Journal of Aquaculture Research & Development

The breeding program of Asian sea bass in Singapore

International Conference on Aquaculture & Fisheries

July 20-22, 2015 Brisbane, Australia

Gen Hua Yue, Laszlo Orban and Huan Sein Lim

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Aquac Res Development

Abstract:

The Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) is an important marine food fish species and has been cultured in Southeast Asia since the 1980s. The aquaculture industry of this fish is growing rapidly. In Singapore, with the support from Singapore government, we have started a breeding program forAsian seabass to improve itsgrowth performance, disease resistance and meat quality since 2004. After two generations of phenotypic selection with help of quantitative genetics, we have increased the growth of Asian seabass by over 40% as compared with the control. Using molecular parentage analysis and challenge of offspring from mass crosses with viral and bacterial pathogens, we have identified fish resistant to big belly disease, nodavirus and iridovirus. We have established one line of Asian seabass resistant to these diseases. Using QTL mapping, we identified DNA markers associated with growth and meat quality traits, and established one line for quick growth and another line for high content of omega-3s in flesh. In addition, we have developed a number of genomic resources to facilitate the breeding program, such as DNA markers, a molecular parentage system, linkage maps, BAC libraries, transcriptome and draft genome sequence. In this presentation, the author will show some details of breeding program and its achievements, as well as the future directions of research.