Brian Bosworth

Bosworth examines catfish fillets after processing. Click the image for more information about it.

More about Bosworth's research (Jan. 2001)

ARS Scientist Awarded for Catfish Genetics Research

By Jim Core
February 9, 2005

National news release

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — Research to improve catfish yield and quality through genetic selection has earned Agricultural Research Service (ARS) geneticist Brian G. Bosworth an award as the agency's "Mid South Area Early Career Scientist of 2004."

The "early career" award is given to ARS scientists who have made outstanding scientific contributions, have worked for the agency seven years or less, and have completed their highest academic degree within the past 10 years. The agency's Mid South Area includes research locations in Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Alabama. ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific research agency.

Bosworth is based at the Catfish Genetics Research Unit, part of the ARS Jamie Whitten Delta States Research Center in Stoneville, Miss.

"Dr. Bosworth has demonstrated originality and inventiveness in developing techniques to predict fillet size in live fish," said ARS Administrator Edward B. Knipling. During a ceremony at USDA headquarters today, Bosworth received a plaque and a cash award from Knipling. He also will receive additional research funding.

Bosworth was part of a team that developed a new line of improved catfish germplasm, NWAC103. The line was named in recognition of the Thad Cochran National Warmwater Aquaculture Center (NWAC) in Stoneville, where it was released jointly by ARS and the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station in 2001.

The release of this catfish line was the largest in the history of the industry, and by 2002 the line comprised approximately 14 percent of U.S. catfish production. The new line is a channel catfish, the most commonly raised catfish species. The catfish industry in the United States has a farm-gate value of about $400 million.

In addition, Bosworth designed equipment to make it easier to evaluate genetic and environmental factors that influence catfish yield and quality. He collaborated with Mississippi State University nutritionists to determine the effects of dietary protein levels on meat yield in catfish.

Bosworth earned his bachelor's degree in biology from Iowa State University, his master's degree in fisheries from Louisiana State University and a doctorate in fisheries from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He lives in Cleveland, Miss., with his wife Mari and their two children: daughter Briana, 11, and son Nicholas, 9.