One male salmon can now fertilize one million eggs- every time
When someone that is responsible for the improved performance of fish like salmon in a commercial farm setting finds a single fish that shows unusually qualities like fast growth, late maturation and exceptional flesh quality, he or she would want to spread the genetic qualities of this particular fish over as many off-spring as possible. This would be the simple explanation of and reason for a recent news story by Cryogenetics AS, which has developed a unique process for the maximum utilization of salmon sperms for the fertilization of as many eggs as possible.
A Press Release explains how this new technology makes is possible to reduce number of sperm used for fertilization:
Cryogenetics AS has conducted studies and field trials showing the reproductive capacity each standard Atlantic salmon male carries in terms of fertilizing eggs. Currently, most egg producers are applying a ratio of about 4.5 million sperm cells per egg in regular production. The application of new technology makes it possible to reduce this number to 1.5 million sperm cells per egg or lower.
The introduction of the SDM6 for testing milt density combined with the use of AquaBoost™ Dilutor makes such improvements possible.
Cost effective
Genomic based tests combined with the increased cost holding broodstock and land-based egg production are some of the driving forces to utilize the sperm from the best males more effectively.
At maturation each Atlantic salmon male is carrying a reservoir of 650 billion sperm and the aim of Cryogenetics is to offer tools to distribute this potential across as many eggs as possible.
More than 50% of the Atlantic salmon egg producers have already implemented all, or parts of this new technology.
