The Australian Barramundi Farmers Association (ABFA) and Australian Seafood Cooperative Research Center (CRC) have agreed to move forward with the development of a selective breeding program designed to improve growth rates of more than 10 percent per generation of selection.
The ABFA said an industry-wide breeding program managed by a nonprofit will improve cooperation, profitability and sustainability within the industry and strengthen its competitiveness. The program is designed to be cost-efficient and practical to deliver strong genetic improvement while avoiding inbreeding.
Among the challenges the program hopes to tackle is biology — all barramundi mature first as males and then differentiate into females some years later. The program aims to mate the latest generation of males and females.
Benefits for the program should accumulate with each generation, including fixed costs of production being spread over more kilograms of product and a reduction of feed costs. Genetic traits such as fillet yield and eating quality should also result from the program.
Test spawning will begin in January 2011.
“We expect that the program will result in a much more efficient and sustainable industry, particularly in Queensland and the Northern Territory where the largest production occurs,” said ABFA President Marty Phillips.
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