为未来种鱼

养殖鱼类每天为全世界数百万人提供食物. More than 70 percent of the farm-raised trout that end up on American tables comes from one state: Idaho.

在bet365亚洲官网 水产养殖研究所 (ARI), 科学家们正在努力确保这些鱼的经济养殖, 以一种有效而健康的方式.

未来的饮食

近年来，野生捕捞的鱼类数量有所下降, 但是随着人口的增长, 饮食中对鱼的需求也在增加, 罗纳德·哈代说, ARI director and a professor in the UI College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Hardy is based at ARI’s Fish Culture Experiment Station in Hagerman, Idaho.

“我们去哪里找鱼来养活不断增长的人口?哈代说. “Fish farming is the only source, and to grow them in aquaculture production, we have to feed them.

由加工过的鱼制成的饲料, 被称为鱼粉, has traditionally been the primary source of protein in farmed-fish diets. 但鱼粉是一种有限的资源, and the global aquaculture industry already consumes nearly 75 percent of annual fishmeal production.

In a long-term partnership with the USDA’s Agriculture 研究 Service and Idaho’s aquaculture industry, ARI researchers have developed a strain of rainbow trout that can grow fast and healthy not on fishmeal, 但在全植物上, 豆油的饮食.

“这是未来的饮食，”哈代说.

The project has taken 14 years of precise selective breeding over seven generations.

“In the fourth generation we produced some families that actually did as well on the plant-based diet as they did on the fishmeal control diet,哈代说. “到第六代和第七代, the selected trout actually grow faster on the plant-meal diet than on the fishmeal diet.

更重要的是, the fish also grow to harvest size twice as fast as fishmeal-fed trout, and studies show they are also more disease-resistant than non-selected trout strains.

These special trout are already benefiting Idaho’s industry, Hardy says. 例如，在Buhl-based 清泉食品公司. -世界上最大的鳟鱼养殖场, which produces about half of the farm-raised trout in the nation – 10 percent of the company’s broodstock is from trout strains bred by ARI and the Agriculture 研究 Service.

斯科特LaPatra, 清泉公司的研发总监, says ARI’s work is excellent and has been valuable in addressing the industry’s needs. The company has supported ARI work with additional expertise and facilities for field trials.

The ability to feed fish a modified diet provides companies like Clear Springs with potential increased efficiencies, 比如更快的增长, 更快的上市时间, 减少浪费，增进健康, La Patra说.

“饲料是我们的No. 1 cost, 所以我们可以做些什么来经济有效地调整饮食, 这些都是让我们兴奋的项目,他说. “我们是一个主要的资源使用者, so anything we can do to further reduce environmental impacts is a very positive thing to, 这带来了更好的饲料利用率, 更少的浪费.”

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预防破坏性疾病

在ARI的莫斯科分公司, another project set to benefit Idaho’s aquaculture industry is a coldwater disease vaccine developed by 肯·该隐, associate director of ARI and a professor in the UI College of Natural 资源.

2014年冬天, Cain finalized a licensing agreement with a large pharmaceutical company that produces fish vaccines and is moving forward working toward the final stages of vaccine optimization for USDA approval and commercial sale. Cain received a $105,000 grant from the Idaho Department of Commerce's 爱达荷州全球创业使命 in October 2015 to test the commercial version of the vaccine to make sure it's as effective as the lab-made version.

Coldwater disease is a bacterial infection that afflicts farmed and wild fish, 主要是鳟鱼和鲑鱼, 在世界范围内. An outbreak can cause a hatchery to lose 30 percent or more of the fish it hatches.

“这是美国鳟鱼产业的一个大问题.S.这也是其他孵化场的一个主要问题，”凯恩说. “他们因这种疾病失去的鱼比其他任何疾病都多.”

Cain began investigating the potential for a vaccine when he came to UI 15 years ago. By 2008, 他有一种可以预防这种疾病的疫苗, but needed to develop an efficient way of inoculating baby fish that only weigh a few grams.

“给鱼接种疫苗, 特别是在爱达荷州，那里种植了数百万棵, 你不能把每条鱼都注射进去,凯恩解释道. “这样做成本太高，工作量也太大.”

Cain refined a method for vaccinating fish using immersion, and patented his vaccine in 2010.

His research has been supported by funding through USDA and collaboration with Northwest aquaculture companies, 比如清泉食品公司和海派克公司, 以及爱达荷州的孵化场, 帮助他进行实地试验.

Cain says it will take about one to two years to complete laboratory and field trials and receive USDA approval for the final vaccine.

“There’s the potential to sell millions and millions of vaccine doses in the U.S.它也可能走向全球，”他说.

广泛的研究

A wide range of other current ARI projects also are aimed at supporting the aquaculture industry.

凯恩为一种鱼类益生菌产品申请了专利, is studying whether his vaccine can cross-protect against infections similar to coldwater disease and is also working with the 库特奈部落 and others to develop techniques for raising fish such as burbot to recover dwindling populations in the wild.

哈迪正在继续他对可持续饲料的研究, including working with ARI partners to study the physiology and genetic variables that make the selected trout strain grow well on plant-based feeds, as well as studying how microbes in fish intestines affect the way they respond to the diet. 他是农业研究局的科学家 肯Overturf are also investigating whether it’s possible to selectively breed fish that have high levels of healthy Omega-3 fatty acids.

在一起, these projects make ARI a world-class research group that directly serves and supports an industry vital to Idaho and the world.

“如果你放眼全球, there are very few places that have a distinct group of faculty and scientists that are really focused on aquaculture research,该隐说. “UI是少数几个地方之一.”