Download or read book Assessing Genetic Contributions to Performance of Communally Reared Families of Wild and Domesticated Reciprocal Hybrid Striped Bass written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Expansion of the hybrid striped bass (HSB) aquaculture industry has been limited by high production costs dictating high prices. Much of the industry is dependant upon wild or captive broodstock. Selective breeding for an improved HSB may be one way to increase production efficiency driving down market prices and allowing industry expansion. Researchers at North Carolina State University have domesticated the HSB parental species over several generations (white bass, Morone chrysops and striped bass, M. saxatilis). This study compares performance (e.g., survival, growth) of HSB progeny from domesticated and wild broodstock that were communally reared in research and commercial ponds and provides an initial assessment of the degree to which important production traits have a genetic basis amenable to improvement. HSB progeny were produced using commercial in vitro spawning techniques and a nested mating design with multiple white bass dams crossed with individual striped bass sires. At the time of spawning, cross combinations were recorded and blood (DNA) samples were collected from the broodstock. These samples were used to test the variability of 68 microsatellite DNA markers. The seven most variable markers were multiplexed and used for progeny identification (whole larvae and fin clips). Initial progeny samples were collected and genotyped at 2 days post hatch (dph) from aquaria of mixed parentage (N = 580) revealing a large variation in initial survival (0-68.9%). Larval samples (N = 438) were also collected and genotyped at 3-4 dph (Phase 0) after domesticated and wild progeny were mixed (volumetric ratio of 48:52). Fin clip samples were collected from progeny at the end of Phases I (e"35 dph; N = 761), II (~1 year of age; N = 909) and III (~1.5 years of age, market; N = 2789). Domesticated progeny experienced an increased rate of mortality within the first ~35 dph. This may have been a result of several beginning factors (e.g., variations in female brood.