CFEED produces copepod eggs for the marine aquaculture industry. Industrial copepod production is a business concept still in its early phase, and CFEED is currently the only operational company producing copepod eggs for the global aquaculture sector. Selective breeding is a powerful tool that can be used to improve desired traits in livestock. In copepods, fecundity (fertility) is a highly heritable trait, which makes selective breeding a promising approach to permanently increase copepod egg productivity within a population.
In the project “Selective Breeding of Copepods – SELCOP”, we initiated, for the first time, a breeding program for the copepod species Acartia tonsa with the goal of increasing egg production rates in CFEED’s commercial population. The aim was to reduce labor costs and increase productivity and profitability for the company. Today, copepod production consists mainly of manual work. Automation of manual operations will enable rapid scaling of production capacity and business expansion, but this requires the development of unique technology, sensors, and control systems. Within SELCOP, we designed, built, and implemented autonomous copepod production units at CFEED’s factory in Vanvikan. These tanks were used to measure the genetic gains of the breeding work at semi-commercial scale, assessing scaling effects from phenotyping in SINTEF’s laboratories to factory scale.
In the early phase of the project, a breeding program was developed based on quantitative genetics theory specifically for A. tonsa, and infrastructure was built to carry out the breeding trials. In parallel, work on the automated production tanks began to ensure they were completed and thoroughly tested well before trials with the selected copepod lines were conducted later in the project.
SELCOP’s innovations have facilitated sustainable growth for the company through increased competitiveness and the development of unique technology. The project successfully carried out five rounds of selective breeding on Acartia tonsa. A prerequisite for this success was the technology developed and applied in the breeding process. Through selective breeding, the project achieved a substantial increase in average egg production per female (fecundity), meeting the target set in the project description. Average egg production increased from 22 to 28 eggs per day after just one generation—a 30 % increase. By the third generation, the selected strain reached an average of 36 eggs, corresponding to a 67 % increase. After five generations, egg production began to plateau. Therefore, we investigated whether there were genetic differences between selectively bred and non-bred generations by performing DNA analysis. We also examined gene activation and deactivation (RNA sequencing) in both bred and non-bred lines and explored the relationship between genetic changes and measurable traits such as egg production rates and feed utilization rates by combining genetic data with production trial results.
The selected line was scaled up and used in semi-commercial production trials at CFEED to assess the effect of selective breeding on fecundity under realistic conditions. No significant differences in growth or survival rates were observed between the control group and the selected line in commercial trials, and copepod eggs were comparable in size and quality. However, the commercial tests showed that we did not achieve the same egg production rates as in the breeding rig at SINTEF’s laboratories. The commercial tests showed high variation in egg production between replicate tanks, which limited our ability to draw firm conclusions when comparing selected and commercial copepod populations. Nevertheless, when comparing productivity between the selected line and the control group, the selected line produced more viable eggs and had a higher feed-to-egg conversion efficiency. This could potentially have a major impact on the company’s profitability going forward and enable CFEED to deliver more product to the market using their current infrastructure.
We conclude that selective breeding results in measurable genetic changes in A. tonsa, although they are small and complex, and that there is significant potential in using selective breeding to enhance phenotypic traits such as egg production rates. Based on the results demonstrated in the SELCOP project, there is a strong foundation to build upon this work in the future to further exploit the potential of selective breeding in copepod production.
SELCOP-prosjektet har styrket CFEEDs markedsutsikter ved å vise at det ligger et stort potensial i selektiv avl av hoppekreps. Avlsprogrammet viste til høyere eggproduksjon etter fem generasjoner. Det gir høyere eggproduksjonsrater per individ, noe som kan få en direkte effekt i CFEED sin produksjon. I tillegg viser prosjektet at effektiviteten på å omdanne fôr til egg ble forbedret hos selekterte individer. Dette vil kunne øke produksjonsutbyttet og samtidig redusere behovet for fôret. Fôret (mikroalger) er en stor kostnadsdriver i dagens produksjon. Prosjektet har også skapt teknologiske nyvinninger. Først og fremst har prosjektet utviklet teknologi og protokoller for å drive avl på hoppekreps. Teknologien inkluderer protokoller for paring av hanner og hunner, tekniske nyvinninger for registrering av eggproduksjon på individnivå, samt prosedyrer for vedlikeholds- og oppfølgingsrutiner av hoppekreps i avlsprogrammet. Denne teknologien kan også brukes til å avle på andre egenskaper på sikt. Det har blitt utviklet teknologi for automatisert produksjon, høsting og overvåking av hoppekrepsegg som legger grunnlaget for effektivisering av flere innsatsfaktorer som vil gi bedre marginer i produksjonen på sikt, som samlet har styrket CFEEDs konkurranseevne, både nasjonalt og internasjonalt.
Styrket konkurransekraft og økt produksjonsvolum betyr at CFEED kan levere sitt produkt til den voksende norske oppdrettsnæringen for f.eks. torsk og kveite i Norge, samtidig som selskapet har åpnet tilgang til globale markeder for etablerte og nye -arter. Dette bidrar til artsdiversifisering i norsk akvakultur, bedre fiskevelferd og etablering av nye arbeidsplasser, både i CFEEDs virksomhet og hos sluttbrukerne, noe som stimulerer lokale økonomier. Prosjektet støtter dermed nasjonale og europeiske strategier som EU’s Farm to Fork og Sustainable Blue Economy for bærekraftig vekst i akvakultursektoren. Nasjonalt bidrar CFEEDs produkt til å nå Norges samfunnsoppdrag om økt selvforsyningsgrad og bærekraftig havbruk ved å fremme innovasjon, ressursutnyttelse og matsikkerhet i lys av klimaendringer og dagens geopolitiske situasjon.
Aktiv formidling av prosjektresultater har sikret oppmerksomhet fra både forskere og sluttbrukere. Denne kunnskapen styrker CFEEDs forretningsmodell og posisjonerer norsk akvakultur som en ledende aktør i utviklingen av bærekraftige løsninger for global matproduksjon. Som pionérer innen avl av hoppekreps har prosjektet bidratt til kompetanseløft hos både industri og FoU-aktørene som har deltatt, som har skapt betydelig interesse internasjonalt og har lagt grunnlaget for prosjektutvikling og internasjonalt samarbeid på sikt. SELCOP har også vist de positive effektene av tverrfaglig samarbeid ved å kombinere fagdisipliner som avl og genetikk, automasjon, kunstig intelligens, og samarbeidet har bidratt til betydelige kompetanseløft for forskere og teknikere i alle karrierefaser.
CFEED produces copepod eggs for the marine larviculture industry. An increase of per capita egg production would immediately result in increased income and company value. Selective breeding is a powerful tool to increase the performance of a population for desirable traits, and fecundity is a highly heritable trait in copepods which makes selective breeding a promising approach to permanently increase egg production in a population. By establishing a new line of highly fecund copepods through a selective breeding program, both egg production yields and resource utilization rates can be significantly improved. Such an innovation will facilitate economically sustainable company growth, enable higher turnovers and enable more competitive pricing. SELCOP will, for the first time, initiate a selective breeding program for Acartia tonsa to improve egg production rates for the current, commercial copepod population. We will develop and make use of advanced image analysis methodologies, using tailored optics and machine learning to achieve high accuracy monitoring of egg production rates in the breeding experiments. Our commercial production trials will test the improved strain to assess genetic gains in a realistic production environment. The overarching aim of the project is to bring forth an improved line of copepods with higher egg production rates and implement these in the daily operation at CFEEDs factory to increase resource utilization using autonomous production tanks innovated in SELCOP. This would reduce labour costs and increase stability and predictability in the production. The innovations will facilitate sustainable company growth in terms of increased production volumes and economic competitiveness, and unique, patentable technology which in turn will enable higher turnovers and more competitive pricing. With SELCOP, CFEED will take key steps towards manifesting the company's share in the global aquaculture markets for marine fish and shrimp species.
