Optimising genomic breeding of farmed salmon ...

• Main Author: Kokkinias, Panagiotis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: The University of Edinburgh 2022
• Subjects: Atlantic salmon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.7488/era/2064; https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/38810

The relatively recent domestication of aquaculture species, such as Atlantic salmon, produces both significant challenges and substantial opportunities for the use of genomic tools in animal breeding which could improve both production and welfare. The recent development of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping arrays raises the possibility of substantially increasing rates of genetic improvement using genomic selection approaches. Genomic selection utilises computational analysis to combine genome-wide SNP data with trait information to identify individuals carrying the best of the naturally occurring genetic variation for desirable characteristics and hence select the best fish to breed future generations. The project is a collaboration with Landcatch (Hendrix Genetics), a salmon breeding company in Scotland with an extensive experience in genetic breeding programmes, which provide data from several different populations of salmon that have been recorded for traits such as body weight per year, ...