Location: Small Grains and Potato Germplasm Research
Project Number: 2050-10600-001-028-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Mar 31, 2026
End Date: Jul 1, 2029
Objective:
The overall objective of this collaborative research is to improve the welfare and productivity of rainbow trout and ensure the competitiveness of US rainbow trout production. This will involve maintaining animal welfare for the rainbow trout breeding program and the evaluation of health, physiological traits, gene expression, genomic, proteomic and metabolomic differences and performance of trout fed various alternate protein and lipid sources, feed additives and micronutrients, while also identifying differences between trout strains and selected/non-selected lines and the impact of suboptimal water quality on fish welfare and production traits.
The collaborative research between ARS and the Cooperator will focus on the following three objectives:
1) Identify rainbow trout families with improved phenotypes for health, growth, fillet fatty acid composition, and utilization of a grain-based fish feed through dietary modification and genetic selection
2) Conduct feeding trials in support of optimizing feed formulations to develop commercial trout feeds based on oilseed and grain products without inclusion of marine protein and/or oil
3) Conduct physiological studies in support of optimizing feed formulations for optimal fish health and performance under optimal and suboptimal water conditions.
Approach:
The USDA Trout Grains Program's breeding program is housed at the Cooperator's experiment station under Cooperator's animal care and use policies by Cooperator animal care staff. Collaborative research will focus on obtaining information to better identify differences in health, physiological, and biochemical mechanisms driving welfare and production traits of trout from selected and non-selected lines fed conventional or all-plant protein/oil diets and to characterize diet x genotype and diet x environmental interactions affecting fish health. Through development of a better understanding of the effects of specific ingredients, diet formulations, additives and micronutrients on fish health and performance under optimal and suboptimal water conditions, strategies can be developed to optimize the efficiency of fish production.