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Recording strategies and selection potential of feed intake measured using the X-ray method in rainbow trout

Genetics Selection Evolution volume 38, Article number: 389 (2006) Cite this article

Abstract

This study examines the way long-term feed intake should be recorded accurately for selective breeding purposes, and estimates selection potential in feed intake using the X-ray method to record individual daily feed intake in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The analysis showed that the point estimates of daily feed intake displayed low repeatabilities (r = 0.09–0.32). This indicates that a minimum of three repeated records were needed to accurately record average feed intake at a fixed age. To effectively breed for feed intake over the whole growing period, it is necessary to determine average feed intake at different ages, since there were only moderate phenotypic and genetic correlations between average daily feed intake recorded at 140 g, 750 g and 2000 g wet mass. Heritability for average daily feed intake was low (average h2 = 0.10), indicating that modest genetic changes can be obtained in response to selection. It was concluded that selection to genetically change long-term feed intake can be successful, yet repeated observations at several life stages are needed to ensure the accuracy of feed intake estimates and the efficiency of selection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MTT Agrifood Research Finland, Animal Production Research, Animal Breeding, FIN-31600, Jokioinen, Finland

    Antti Kause & Esa A. Mäntysaari

  2. School of Biological Sciences, Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, AB24 2TZ, UK

    Declan Tobin, Alexandre Dobly, Dominic Houlihan & Sam Martin

  3. Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Tervo Fisheries Research and Aquaculture, FIN-72210, Tervo, Finland

    Ossi Ritola

  4. Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute, Turku Game and Fisheries Research, FIN-20520, Turku, Finland

    Kari Ruohonen

  5. Unit of Social Ecology, Université Libre de Bruxelles, CP 231, 1050, Bd du Triomphe, Belgium

    Alexandre Dobly

Authors
  1. Antti Kause
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  2. Declan Tobin
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  3. Alexandre Dobly
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  4. Dominic Houlihan
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  5. Sam Martin
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  6. Esa A. Mäntysaari
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  7. Ossi Ritola
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  8. Kari Ruohonen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Antti Kause.

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Open Access This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Kause, A., Tobin, D., Dobly, A. et al. Recording strategies and selection potential of feed intake measured using the X-ray method in rainbow trout. Genet Sel Evol 38, 389 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-38-4-389

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/1297-9686-38-4-389

Keywords

Genetics Selection Evolution

ISSN: 1297-9686