Genomic selection for improved resistance to Amoebic Gill Disease in farmed Atlantic salmon

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Atlantic salmon is the most valuable aquaculture species to the UK economy (£0.6 bn/annum) and provides a major source of employment in rural and coastal communities. Currently, Amoebic gill disease (AGD) is one of the most serious threats to the sustainable production of salmon. Infection can result in reduced growth, substantial treatment and management costs, increased susceptibility to other pathogens and, if untreated, mortality. Therefore, AGD presents a large economic and welfare burden. AGD has been a problem in Tasmania since 1980, where control costs are high ($1AUS/kg salmon). However, these costs are dwarfed by losses that would be incurred without treatment. The UK produced 162M kg of salmon in 2012, hence similar control costs here would cost ~£90M/year to the economy. Our previous TSB-funded work has led to the development of the first high-density SNP genotyping arrary for Atlantic salmon and enabled testing and application of genomic selection strategies in salmon breeding. In this project, we aim to apply this array and knowledge to improve AGD resistance in farmed salmon stocks using genomic selection. By performing a controlled AGD challenge experiment and utilising gill damage data collected in the farm environment, we aim to identify and benchmark accurate phenotypes and combine these data with dense genotype data to substantially improve AGD resistance. While genomic selection (utilising dense genetic marker information to predict breeding values for individual selection candidates) is routine in the terrestrial livestock sector, it has only recently been applied to aquaculture. LNS are already internationally recognised as pioneers in this area and this proposed project will further develop genomic selection as a route to accurate and effective selective breeding for disease resistance. While the intitial target trait is AGD resistance, other economically and environmentally important target traits (e.g. fillet quality, resistance to other pathogens) will be improved. The outputs of the project will have positive economic, animal welfare and environmental implications for the UK salmon farming industry.