Acronym REPROSEL
Category
Aquaculture
Title Reproduction protocols and molecular tools for mass spawning and communal rearing based selective breeding schemes applied to multiple-spawning marine fish Programme FP7
Instrument (FP6)
Contact Type (FP7)
Strand (Interreg)
FP7 - Research for SMEs
Theme (FP7)
Activity Area (FP6)
Regional Area (Interreg)
Action (COST)
SME – Research for the benefit of SMEs
Specific Programme (FP7)
Capacities
Funding source European Coordinator Herve Chavanne Coordinator email panamelio@hotmail.com
Coordinator institution
NOFIMA - Norwegian Institute of Food, Fisheries and Aquaculture Research (Norway)
Institutions involved
NA - Ardag Agricultural Cooperative Society Ltd (Israel) ,
NA - Galaxidi Marine Farm SA (Greece) ,
IRTA - Institute of Food and Agricultural Research and Technology (Spain) ,
NA - Italian Experimental Institute Lazzaro Spallanzani (Italy) ,
Cupimar - Marine Fish Farms SA (Spain) ,
NA - National Research Council - Institute of Marine Engineering (Italy) ,
NA - Tinamenor SA (Spain) ,
Start year 2010 End year 2012 Funding (€) € 1,535,397 Website https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/262523 Summary Selective breeding schemes are widely recognized as efficient means to improve aquaculture production. Compared to individual selection, family-based selection allows for better control of inbreeding and represents the only alternative to improve disease resistance and slaughter traits. However, fish farmers are reluctant to invest in such programs due to the high requirements for space, labour and maintenance. In addition, the sub groups produced may be inadequate when artificial fertilisation is not fully mastered. This limitation affects the emergence of breeding programs for multiple-spawning species. However, molecular markers are recognised as valid tools to enhance breeding programs, in particular for parentage inference of selection candidates reared in communal tanks. Microsatellites are the most widely used markers and the assignment of progeny is achieved with dedicated software. But the cost of genotyping, combined with a low assignment rate of progeny to a single parental pair, restrict their use in selective breeding programmes. This project aims to address the issue of reliance on mass spawning to implement selective breeding schemes. The European seabass and the gilthead seabream are the target species which will be used to attain the following research objectives: understand the spawning kinetics and propose hormonal therapies to develop mass spawning protocols allowing equalised parental contribution; develop highly informative short tandem repeats (STRs) multiplexes and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) microchips and optimise an allocation software to maximise the rate of single match at the lower cost; optimise selection models adapted to new mating designs to get the best genetic response while controlling the rate of inbreeding. Based on the projects results, a business plan will be prepared, accompanied by a cost-effectiveness analysis of the proposed strategy. It will result in the reinforcement of existing breeding programs and the emergence of new breeding initiatives.
Provide the participating SMEs with tools to implement breeding programs with constrained rates of inbreeding, but without the necessity of utilizing artificial insemination; (1) Reproduction and spawning control: (i) improve the present knowledge on the spawning kinetics and parental contribution of the seabass and seabream, (ii) employ the current available hormonal technologies for controlling reproductive maturation of cultured fish; (2) Molecular biology: develop new panels of highly informative markers (STRs and SNPs) in order to obtain a better rate of correct parentage assignment at the lowest possible cost in complex pedigree structures derived from more mass spawning tanks; (3) Software development: enhance an existing allocation software in order to (i) increase the final rate of single match, (ii) facilitate the handling of datasets; (4) Quantitative genetics: designs of breeding programs will be proposed, which maximises genetic response while controlling the rate of inbreeding, using the optimum contribution selection method.
Keywords
Selective breeding;
Genetic;
Fish;
Seabass;
Seabream;
Fish reproduction;
Marine Region
62
Aegean Sea (GSA 22)
2
Canarias and Madeira Islands (34.1.2)
2
Marine Region Map
