Increasing fillet yield and improving fillet quality in rainbow trout can improve aquaculture production efficiency and economic benefits
Trout Dish
Image Credit: Wikimedia CC Image by Fastily
Classical breeding approaches can improve fillet yield and quality but are time-consuming because of the long time from when adult fish produce offspring – called generation interval. A more efficient approach is to use genomic selection, where thousands of genetic markers are used to increase the accuracy of the breeding process, thereby reducing the generation interval.
With support from USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, researchers at the University of Maryland are using genomic analyses to identify genetic markers that can predict muscle yield and quality and, more importantly, use genomic selection to selectively breed fish with these traits.
“There is immense interest from the industry to implement genomic selection in their breeding populations, similar to what has been recently achieved in livestock,” said University of Maryland associate professor and lead researcher Mohamed Salem. “This research develops technologies that make animal protein production in the U.S. more efficient, competitive and environmentally cleaner.”
Read full article on National Institute
of Food and Agriculture site
