Abstract
Variation among families of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) in growth, feed efficiency, and body weight variation was investigated. A total of 672 turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) originating from eight families (84 full-sibs per family) were used in this experiment. Body weight (BW) was recorded individually four times between approximately 250 and 370 days of age. Feed intake was measured for each tank during the three corresponding time periods. Feed efficiency was estimated for each tank based on the calculations of residual feed intake (RFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The within-tank coefficient of variation in body weight (CV-BW) and residual body weight variation (RBWV) were calculated to evaluate group dominance dynamics. Components of variation attributable to families were estimated from linear and quadratic random regression orthogonal polynomials. The random quadratic family component explained 14% (RFI), 22% (FCR), 76% (BW), 50% (CV-BW), and 45% (RBWV) of the total variance. The family components were significant for BW, CV-BW and RBWV (p<0.001), and was very close to significance for FCR (p=0.052). The correlation between the intercept (grand mean) of RFI and FCR was highly significant (r=0.94). Intercepts of RFI and FCR were positively correlated with CV-BW and RBWV (r=0.09 to 0.12), however, the correlations were not significant. The results indicate differences between families in FCR, which may be used in selection programs aimed at improving feed efficiency.
Highlights
The six main cultured finfish species in Europe, accounting for 97% of the total aquaculture production, are Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) (Janssen et al, 2017). Gjedrem et al (2012) estimated that about 10% of global aquaculture production is based on genetically improved stocks
The results indicate differences between families in feed conversion ratio (FCR), which may be used in selection programs aimed at improving feed efficiency
A high correlation between FCR and residual feed intake (RFI) indicates that RFI may be selected for if the goal is to improve feed efficiency but not to affect size and maintenance requirements. These results are supported by scarce literature on RFI in other fishes and ample literature on RFI in terrestrial livestock species, which indicates that a genetic component exists for both FCR and RFI, and that it is possible to select for these traits
Summary
The six main cultured finfish species in Europe, accounting for 97% of the total aquaculture production, are Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) (Janssen et al, 2017). Gjedrem et al (2012) estimated that about 10% of global aquaculture production is based on genetically improved stocks. The six main cultured finfish species in Europe, accounting for 97% of the total aquaculture production, are Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata), European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) (Janssen et al, 2017). According to Janssen et al (2017), today about 80-83% of the European aquaculture production originates from selective breeding resulting in an annual gain in harvest weight of 3%. This increase is mainly explained by the dominance of European salmon farming. Traits of high economic importance in fish production are growth rate, feed conversion ratio (FCR), resistance to disease, fillet percentage, meat quality, and age at maturation (Gjedrem, 1983; Kankainen et al, 2016)
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