Improvement of methods for infectious pancreatic necrosis virus (IPNV) screening and control in Atlantic salmon broodfish

Testing and removal of progeny from IPNV-positive salmonid parents to control vertical transmission of IPNV has been known for more than 35 years and various national authorities (i.e. Scotland, Chile, but not Norway) have established IPNV testing require ments for salmonid broodfish or imposed IPNV certification requirements for the transfer of salmonid eyed eggs. Conventional cell culture methods have major drawbacks in an industrial aquaculture setting and several protocols for IPNV detection have been developed using nucleic acid amplification techniques. One of the partners in the current consortium has, however experienced that the outcome from the RT-PCR assays proves notoriously variable between laboratories, rendering the testing and certification of questionable disease control value. The current project addresses these problems aiming to further develop and standardise sampling and laboratory techniques to better fit with the aquaculture industry's current and future needs. Of particular import ance is the work plan on documentation of non-lethal sampling methods allowing for testing prior to spawning, and the assessment of the sensitivity of various methods when applied on various tissues including ovarian and seminal fluids. The successful ac complishment of the project will be exploited commercially both in Norway and internationally by the proposer and its fish breeding industry partner.