Aquaculture & Fisheries

Targets and Tools for Selective Breeding of Aquaculture Species

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Selective breeding has a very high potential for improving the genetic makeup of fish in aquaculture production. It just takes a few generations to accomplish major improvements in economically important traits. Selective breeding is the process where the genetic variation present in desirable traits within a population is used to improve production quality, efficiency and sustainability. A good example of the possible benefits of selective breeding is the selection for growth in fish. The genetic improvements that have been obtained for growth in aquaculture species are in general three to five times higher per generation than what is found for terrestrial livestock species in general. The benefits of the breeding scheme come through the additional and cumulative improvement of genetics of the offspring that enter the production system.