Performance of triploid Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua L.) in commercial aquaculture
2016
Otterå, Håkon | Thorsen, Anders | Karlsen, Ørjan | Fjelldal, Per Gunnar | Morton, H Craig | Taranger, Geir Lasse
The use of triploid fish can potentially reduce two of the major obstacles in Atlantic cod aquaculture; early sexual maturation that causes reduced profitability, and avoiding introgression between farmed cod and native populations, by preventing spawning in the netpens or that escapees reproduce.Cod eggs were pressure treated to produce triploid fish. However, we observed that the pressure treatment produced a mixture of triploid and diploid individuals. The diploid and triploid fish were reared together; in a seawater pond during their larval and juvenile period, and in a commercial cod farm from juveniles to slaughter. Two experiments were performed on two separate year-classes of cod: in the first experiment, fish were reared under artificial continuous light, while in the second experiment the fish were reared under ambient light conditions.Triploid cod had lower gonadosomatic index at all measurements compared to the diploids. However, from a production point of view, triploidisation alone only slightly reduced the gonadosomatic index and had to be combined with traditionally employed artificial light in order to be effective. Triploid fish were generally lighter than the diploids, but this difference disappeared towards time-of-harvest in the year-class without artificial light, possibly because of the lower maturation rate among the triploids. The triploid fish had a higher incidence of skeletal deformities compared to the diploids.The use of sterile fish by means of triploidisation is a promising method to reduce sexual maturation and the same time eliminate potential interbreeding of escaped cod with wild cod. In this paper we compare growth, maturation and deformities between triploid and diploid cod reared in common garden under commercial condition.
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