About the project

These diagnostics will be used to formulate best practices to prevent the occurrence of these anomalies.

The questions to be answered are:.

• Which early production conditions affect salmon organ development?
• When and where in the developing embryo can these effects first be detected?
• What is the impact of suboptimal development on fish robustness?
• How can we give farmed salmon the best possible start in life?

The project will explore the hypothesis that production conditions during embryonic and larval developmental stages may have a negative impact on organ development, and thus on future heart, kidney and gill health. Organ development is a complex process in which stem cells undergo multiple rounds of differentiation, ultimately resulting in a number of specialised cell types, which in turn combine to form functional organs. The process is tightly controlled by genetic programmes, but also has a degree of flexibility. Ambient temperature, for example, can have a major impact on the rate of development, but can also lead to mortality and organ abnormalities. The balance between the genetic programme and phenotypic plasticity determines animal health. This project proposes to document this interaction in salmon at the genetic, cellular, organism and environmental levels.

More about the project:

FHF – Norwegian Seafood Research Fund
External web page: cigene.no
Summary video for the project (YouTube)

• Background

  The Norwegian aquaculture industry produces over 1.6 million tonnes of salmon a year, more than half of the global production. This production level demands fast-growing fish, which has been achieved both by targeting growth rate in selective breeding and by applying high rearing temperatures during early life stages. However, more than 90 million salmon a year are lost before they reach slaughter size, compromising economic, ethical, and environmental sustainability. Losses occur for a variety of reasons, but for a large part can be attributed to deficiencies in organ health, including heart, kidneys, and gills, but also the immune system, skin, and skeleton.

• Objectives

  Main objective
  To design and validate best practices for salmon farming conditions from fertilisation to first feeding.

  Sub-goals (with corresponding work packages (WPs))

  • To carry out short- and long-term experiments with different production conditions in the early stages of life (WP2).
  • To describe organ development at the level of genes, cells, and tissues (WP3).
  • To assess the robustness of the fish after short- and long-term trials (WP4).
  • To formulate best practices for early production conditions, and disseminate these to the aquaculture industry (WP5).

Participants

External participants

• Erik Burgerhout - Nofima AS - avd. Produksjonsbiologi - Researcher
• Torvald Blikra Egeland Aqua Kompetanse AS - Researcher
• Ann Cecilie Hilling - NCE Aquaculture AS - Head of innovation
• Kirsti Hjelde - Nofima AS - avd. Ernæring og fôrteknologi - Researcher
• Marianne Iversen - Nofima AS - avd. Fiskehelse - Researcher
• Carlo C. Lazado - Nofima AS - avd. Fiskehelse - Senior Researcher
• Anja Striberny - Nofima AS - avd. Produksjonsbiologi - Researcher
• Helge Tveiten - UiT Norges arktiske universitet - Norges fiskerihøgskole - Professor
• Elisabeth Ytteborg - Nofima AS - avd. Fiskehelse - Senior Researcher
• Tone-Kari K. Østbye - Nofima AS - avd. Ernæring og fôrteknologi - Senior Researcher