Large-scale study focuses on fish health and welfare
Mowi is to partner with the Roslin Institute in an £8.5m large-scale study to improve the welfare and productivity of farm-raised salmon in Scotland.
In the five-year partnership, together we will seek to understand how to limit the impact of chronic complex diseases, enabling better health and welfare.
The project will use a range of approaches and technologies to improve resilience to disease throughout the salmon lifecycle. Together, we will establish a world-leading framework to identify regions of the salmon genome associated with complex diseases, using this knowledge to support breeding of healthy stocks.
Reducing losses
The project, funded through the BBSRC Business and Academia Prosperity Partnership programme, aims to limit the welfare and economic cost associated with disease in a key livestock sector.
We will focus on fish heart and gill health, using detailed studies of the species’ DNA code, genes linked to key traits, and research into the immune system to improve resilience to disease throughout the fish lifecycle.
Hundreds of salmon families will be tracked across the full production cycle, focussing on key areas, including seeking to understand the diversity of genomes, the impact of early rearing practices and developing novel characteristics to select the most robust fish from the breeding population.
Scientists will investigate how the rearing temperature during early development of fish impacts the link between disease, immunity and response to vaccination. They will also develop novel ways to separately measure disease resistance, tolerance and infectivity as traits for robustness.
The five-year project, involving research on the first dedicated Scottish salmon breeding population, will be bolstered by recruitment of key research posts, bidirectional career development support, and a programme of community engagement to raise awareness of the research among the public.
Commenting on the project, Dr Herve Migaud, Mowi Health, Welfare and Biology Director, said: “The scientific objectives outlined are highly strategically relevant and deliver immediate opportunities to salmon production in Scotland, UK and globally, further enhancing animal welfare, sustainability, and societal acceptance.”
Dr Nick Wade from the Roslin Institute added: “We seek to advance the fundamental understanding of fish health and robustness at multiple levels across the salmon life cycle, a proposal only possible through such a large-scale partnership with industry.”
