Gamete quality and broodstock management in temperate fish

Abstract

The ability to fully control sexual maturation and spawning and to produce large numbers of high quality seeds 'on demand' (i.e. all year long) is a primary requirement for the successful development of aquaculture. This relies on optimal broodstock management practices based on extensive knowledge of the nutritional and environmental requirements of fish in captivity. However, for many established, emerging and new farmed fish species, such knowledge is limited or not available yet. The level of domestication also plays an essential role as stocks with improved traits in farming conditions are selected. Importantly, reliable indicators of egg quality are still lacking and hatcheries still rely on wild harvested broodstocks in many farmed fish species. These key challenges must be addressed urgently to ensure the sustainable development of the European fish farming sector. This review gives an overview of methods to assess egg/sperm quality and many of the most important factors affecting gamete production and quality, including broodstock nutrition, environmental and spawning induction protocols, genetic management, gamete preservation and new reproductive strategies.

Relationships between spawn quality and biochemical composition of eggs and hatchlings of Octopus vulgaris under different parental diets

“…In consequence, the investigation of early biometrical measures of eggs and paralarvae as a proxy of larvae viability should be carried out. In a previous study, a significant correlation between egg biometry and paralarval biometry was found in O. vulgaris (Márquez et al, 2013); moreover, embryo and/or paralarvae survival data could advance a significant description of young stage quality (Migaud et al, 2013).…”

Impact of sperm DNA damage and oocyte-repairing capacity on trout development

“…Among salmonids -breeding in cold water -photoperiod manipulation is usually applied in order to obtain an all-year-round production (Billard & Reinaud 1978). Nevertheless, due to the mismatch between the artificial photoperiod and temperature regimes in warmer periods of the year, overall oocyte quality, embryonic survival and larval performance are usually lower in the out-of-the-natural-breeding period (Bobe & Labbe 2010, Migaud et al 2013). An increase of DNA sperm damage (Perez-Cerezales et al 2010a) and defective vitellogenesis in oocytes (Bobe & Labbe 2010) that could affect embryo development have been identified in out-of-season breeders, but the oocyterepairing activity and it's combined effect with the sperm chromatin integrity have never been explored.…”

Assessment of some nongenetic factors that affect egg mass weight of channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus

“…The ability to control spawning for the production of large numbers of high-quality eggs 'on demand' (i.e., all year long) may be pointed out as a primary requirement for the successful development of aquaculture (Migaud et al, 2013). However, reproductive traits _____________________ Corresponding editor: Enrique Dupré heritabilities are relatively variable, and for channel catfish, the few evidence may suggest the lower genetic change possible (Gima et al, 2014).…”