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Publications (86)
Genetic selection programmes in gilthead seabream mainly focus on traits related to growth, disease resistance, skeletal anomalies, or fillet quality. However, the effect of selection for growth on the reproductive performance of seabream broodstock has not received much attention. The present study aimed to determine the effect of selection for gr...
The nutritional profile of aquaculture feeds can be altered with substitution of fish-based ingredients, including the vitamin contents, ultimately affecting the vitamin supply to fish. Requirements for several vitamins have been described for early life stages of species including some as salmonids and carps, but optimum levels for gilthead seabre...
Hydroxyproline (L-Hyp) is amply present in fishmeal but limited in plant-protein sources. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of supplementation with dietary L-Hyp on the distribution of collagen types in the muscle, and on the texture, survival rate, growth rate, feed utilization, body composition as well as the expression of the gene...
In this study, a total of 18 novel productive traits, three related to carcass [cNiT] and fifteen related to morphometric [mNiT]), were measured in gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) using Non-invasive Technologies (NiT) as implemented in IMAFISH_ML (MatLab script). Their potential to be used in industrial breeding programs were evaluated in 2348 of...
Fish egg quality is strongly related with the ability of the egg to be fertilized and develop a normal embryo with good survival and a lack of abnormalities. Large variations in the spawning quantity or quality impact directly in the competitiveness and sustainability of hatcheries, which create an overly large broodstock in order to satisfy the on...
Modern aquaculture feeds tend to contain lower levels of fish based ingredients, while increasing the content of plant ingredients. However, this may alter the vitamin profile of the feeds, leading to unbalanced vitamin supply. Requirements for several vitamins have been established for species such as carps and salmonids, but adequate levels for g...
Fish quality traits are important criteria for consumers in the commercial market as well as growth. In this study, flesh composition and morphology traits, in comparison with growth traits, were selected to study their additive genetic variation at harvest size, and their genetic and phenotypic correlations between different environments (cage and...
The Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) is an economically important flatfish species. In this study, a genome draft was analyzed to identify microsatellite (SSR) markers for whole-genome genotyping. A subset of 224 contigs containing SSRs were preselected and validated by using a de novo female hybrid assembly. Overall, the SSR density in the gen...
One of the factors that limits the replacement of fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO) by plant ingredients in diets for marine fish, is their lack of long chain-polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA). LC-PUFA are essential fatty acids for these fish species, which lack sufficient fatty acyl desaturase 2 (Fads2) activity to synthesize them. Nutritional...
Previous studies have shown that it is possible to increase the ability of marine fish to produce long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid from their 18C precursors by nutritional programming or using broodstock with a higher fatty acyl desaturase 2 (fads2) expression. However, those studies failed to show the effect of these interventions on the expr...
The present work investigated how the combination of poultry oil with microalgae oils, rich in eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid (ED diets) or n-6 docosapentaenoic acid and n-3 docosahexaenoic acid (DD diets) modulates hepatic lipid metabolism in gilthead sea bream juveniles. Diets were tested using two different fishmeal contents (15%...
Environmental factors such as nutritional interventions during early developmental stages affect and establish long-term metabolic changes in all animals. Diets used during the spawning period causes a nutritional programming effect in offspring of gilthead sea bream and affects long-term metabolism. Studies showed modulation of genes such as fads2...
Abstract
In previous studies, combined inclusion of Zn, Mn and Se in early weaning diets improved
larval growth, but suggested a potential toxicity by one of these elements.
The present study aimed to determine the effect of the single inclusion of Zn, Mn,
Se or Cu, their combination (Control+) or their absence (Control−) on larval diets.
At the en...
The principle aim of this study is to elucidate the relationship between the fatty acid desaturase 2 gene (fads2) expression pattern in peripheral blood cells (PBCs) and liver of gilthead seabream (GSB), Sparus aurata broodstock in order to determine the possible use of fads2 expression as a potential biomarker for the selection of broodstock. This...
Manganese (Mn) is an essential metal for fish and requirements have been established for several finfish but not for gilthead sea bream. Thus, the present study aims to establish the optimal dietary supplementation level of Mn in gilthead sea bream fingerlings fed vegetable based diets.
Gilthead sea bream fingerlings (weight 12.6 ± 1.5 g, mean ± S....
The lymphocystis disease (LCD) is a viral infection with a high economic impact in gilthead sea bream aquaculture. In this study, genetic estimates associated with lymphocystis disease virus (LCDV) disease susceptibility and growth were determined in sea bream juveniles. Two fish batches (named batch 1 and batch 2) were built from mass spawning and...
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in parental diets play a key role in regulating n-3 LC-PUFA metabolism of the offspring. However, it is not clear whether this metabolic regulation is driven by the precursors presented in the diet or by the parental ability to synthesize them. To elucidate this, broodstocks of gilthead sea bream with different bl...
The aim of this study was to generate new knowledge on fish epigenetics, assessing the effects of linolenic acid (ALA) conditioning of broodstock in the offspring of the marine fish Sparus aurata. Attention was focused on gene organization, methylation signatures and gene expression patterns of fatty acid desaturase 2 (fads2) and stearoyl-CoA desat...
Nutritional intervention with vegetable oils (VO) supplemented to fish broodstock diets enhances progeny ability to utilize low fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO) diets. However, the intervention with vegetable meals (VM) in broodstock diets has been scarcely tested in marine fish. This study aims to determine the effect of FM replacement by VM alone...
Vegetable oils (VO) are being extensively used as lipid sources in marine fish diets, due to the decreased availability of fish oil. The use of VO could induce some imbalances on essential fatty acids (EFAs) with the subsequent well described detrimental effects on fish immunity. EFAs are directly associated with several immune functions, acting as...
The use of vegetable ingredients may alter the mineral balance of feeds for gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) due to the differences in mineral composition between marine and vegetable ingredients. Whereas seabream fed low levels of zinc (Zn) and manganese (Mn) may present reduced growth and performance, as well as alterations in mineral deposition...
The negative effects of oxidative damage on larval development, growth and survival are among the factors markedly affecting marine fish larvae production success. Where as α-tocopherol (vitE) and L-ascorbic acid (vitC) are strong antioxidants, the potential antioxidant role of taurine (Tau) in fish diets and its relation with other antioxidant nutrien...
There is an increasing number of evidence regarding how dietary interventions during the early stages of development can have long-term effects on the metabolism of different organisms, including fish. In the recent years, in commercially important fish species, it has been demonstrated the possibility of routing the metabolism for better usage of...
Substituting fishmeal (FM) with vegetable meal (VM) can markedly affect the mineral composition of feeds, and may require additional mineral supplementation. Their bioavailability and optimal supplementation levels depend also on the form of delivery of minerals. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of different delivery forms of three...
Vertebral morphology of Gilthead sea bream juveniles
Vertebrae 3–6 and 13–16 were measured for length, height and vertebral length/vertebral height. Measurements were carried for fish fed a diet based on vegetable ingredients (C-) without mineral supplementation and fish fed a diet based on fish meal and fish oil. Vertebra 13 was the only vertebra...
Given that fishmeal (FM) and fish oil (FO) are important and limited feedstuffs for production of marine fish species, a large range of studies have focus on the replacement of these valuable ingredients by alternative ones. At present, terrestrial vegetable ingredients replace large amounts of FM and FO, through the balance of aminoacids, micronut...
Nutrition during periconception and early development can modulate metabolic routes to prepare the offspring for adverse conditions through a process known as nutritional programming. In gilthead sea bream, replacement of fish oil (FO) with linseed oil (LO) in broodstock diets improves growth in the 4-month-old offspring challenged with low-FO and...
Recent evidence suggests that environmental factors experienced by the parents can have long-lasting effects in the offspring or in the later generations. Thus, early environmental signs, such as available nutrients during reproduction, can modulate metabolic routes and offspring phenotype. This metabolic regulation, known as nutritional programmin...
The aim of this study was to assess the effects of low levels of dietary fish meal (FM) and fish oil (FO) on disease resistance and gut associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) response after an experimental intestinal infection with V. anguillarum in European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) For that purpose, sea bass juveniles were fed one of four diets...
The present study examined the short and mid-term effects of a rise in temperature from 18 °C to 24 °C on the expression of genes related to the stress response regulation in juveniles of Senegalese sole, Solea senegalensis. The animals were exposed to a temperature increase of 6 °C, after 1 month of acclimation at 18 °C. After this process, sample...
The main objective of this study was to assess the effects of graded levels of replacement of fishmeal (FM) and fish oil (FO) by terrestrial meals (TM) and vegetable oils (VO) on gut health of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) based on gut morphology, gut-associated immune system (GALT) and gut microbiota composition. Reducing the dietary FM...
Fish oil (FO) replacement by more sustainable alternative sources such as vegetable oils (VO) has been center of the attention during the last decades in fish nutrition research (Turchini et al., 2009; Torstensen et al., 2010). A number of studies have showed high percentage VO inclusion may cause adverse effects on growth performance and health st...
Despite the importance of trace mineral for the normal development of marine fish larvae, previous studies have demonstrated that the contents of this nutrients in live preys used in larviculture are much lower than those of copepods. Moreover, our previous studies have shown the importance of a premix inclusion of Zn, Mn and Se in early weaning di...
Nutrition during peri-conception and early development can modulate metabolic routes to prepare the offspring for adverse conditions. This phenomena, known as nutritional programming, has been recently deserves more attention in fish production. Our previous studies have demonstrated that replacing fish oil (FO) by linseed oil (LO) in broodstock di...
Lack of operculum, a neurocranial deformity, is the most common external abnormality to be found among industrially produced gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.), and this entails significant financial losses. This study conducts, for the first time in this species, a quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis of the lack of operculum. A total of 142 i...
Morphological abnormalities, especially skeletal deformities, are some of the most important problems affecting gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) aquaculture industry. In this study, a QTL analysis for LSK complex deformity in gilthead seabream is reported. LSK complex is a severe deformity consisting of a consecutive repetition of three vertebr...
A fast and fully automated software for image analysis (named IMAFISH_ML) was developed to measure 27 fish morphometric traits (technological traits) on three commercially relevant fish species: gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L., from 12.5 to 36.6 cm length), meagre (Argyrosomus regius, from 17.5 to 58.4 cm length) and red porgy (Pagrus pagrus, f...
This study reports for the first time on European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), larvae, the effect of different levels of dietary arachidonic acid (ARA; 20:4n-6) on the expression of genes related to the fish stress response. Copies of mRNA from genes related to steroidogenesis [StAR (steroidogenic acute regulatory protein), c-Fos, and CYP11...
The concept of nutritional programming raises the interesting possibility of directing specific metabolic pathways or functions in juvenile fish, for example, to improve the use of substitutes to fishmeal and oil, and hence to promote sustainability in aquaculture. The aim of the study was to determine effects of early nutritional stimuli of gilthe...
Dietary fatty acids have been shown to exert a clear effect on the stress response, modulating the release of cortisol. The role of fatty acids on the expression of steroidogenic genes has been described in mammals, but little is known in fish. The effect of different fatty acids on the release of cortisol and expression of stress-related genes of...
The complete removal of fishmeal (FM) and fish oil (FO) is required to promote the sustainable development of aquaculture and for that, fast growing high quality fish that are fed without FM and FO are necessary. Early nutritional programming may allow the production of fish better adapted to utilize diets with vegetable meals (VM) and oils (VO). T...
One of the most important problems of fish aquaculture is the high incidence of fish deformities, which are mainly skeletal. In this study, genetic parameters on gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) for skeleton deformities at different ages (179, 269, 389, 539 and 689 days) and their correlations with growth traits were estimated, as were as their...
The decreased availability of fish oil, traditionally used as oil source in marine aquafeeds, has lead to the search for alternatives oils. Vegetable oils (VO) are being extensively used as lipid sources in marine fish diets, inducing an imbalance on certain dietary fatty acids. Alteration on the dietary ratio of w-6/w-3 has been described to have...
Morphological abnormalities in farmed gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) are a major problem as it entails significant economic losses. In this study, 3 large scale experiments under different conditions of spawning, offspring handling and breeders phenotype were performed to analyze the inheritance of 4 types of deformities in this species: lack of...
The study assesses the effects of dietary concentrated mannan oligosaccharides (cMOS) on fish performance, biochemical composition, tissue fatty acid profiles, liver and posterior gut morphology and gen expression of selected parameters involved on the intestinal immune response and liver lipid metabolism of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)...
The rapid development of aquaculture over the recent decades in terms of species diversity and multidisciplinary applications, requires new biological models with high plasticity to ensure its sustainability with environmental friendly activities. With their particular reproductive behaviour, where males not only fertilize eggs but also become preg...
The objective of the present study was to compare the effectiveness of dietary marine phospholipids (MPL) obtained from krill and soybean lecithin (SBL) on the rearing performance and development of seabream (Sparus aurata) larvae. Larvae were fed from 16 to 44 day posthatching (dph) five formulated microdiets with three different levels (50, 70 an...
Although dietary marine phospholipids are able to improve culture performance of marine fish larvae in a further extend than soybean lecithin, both types of phospholipids (PL) markedly increase oxidative risk. The inclusion of a fat-soluble antioxidant such as the vitamin E α-tocopherol could allow a better control of oxidative stress. The objectiv...
The inclusion of complementary antioxidative factors, such as selenium (Se), could counteract the high oxidation risk in early weaning diets high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA). The present study investigated the effects of graded levels of Se derived yeast with krill phospholipids (KPL) on skeletal development, survival, stress resistance,...
The growth and consolidation of the gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata) industry require improvement based on permanent and cumulative aspects, such as those derived from genetic breeding programmes. Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) by Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) can be usefully implemented with the appropriate tools. In this study, 138 microsatelli...
The high number of multiplex PCRs developed for gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata L.) from many different microsatellite markers does not allow comparison among populations. This highlights the need for developing a reproducible panel of markers, which can be used with safety and reliability by all users. In this study, the first standardised panel...
To study the substitution of fish oil by vegetable oils in fish diets, juveniles Senegalese sole (Solea senegalensis) were fed diets (56 % crude protein, 12 % crude lipid) containing either linseed (100LO) or soybean (100SO) oils in comparison with a 100 % fish oil-based diet (100FO) for 90 days. Samples of muscle, liver, and intestine were collect...
The effect of two physical tagging systems, Visible Implant Elastomer (VIE) and Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT), was evaluated in red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) fingerlings, at different sizes. For VIE tagging, the weight classes were <1 and 1–5 g and no tag effect was detected on fish growth. There was a significant difference in mortality between...
In this study, for the first time on meagre (Argyrosomusregius), two efficient Multiplex PCRs, a specific (STRS) and an inter- specific (STRI), were used to genotype 17 microsatellites on meagre and reconstruct genealogy under industrial conditions. A total of 197 individuals from different sources and 95 of their descendents were analysed for vali...
Evaluation of PIT system as a method to tag fingerlings of meager (Argyrosomus regius): effects on Growth, Mortality and tag loss
The relevance of welfare in aquaculture is growing up so it is necessary to look for markers to know animal welfare status during common handling situations during farm. Molecular biomarker has been proposed as useful tools due to its reliability and variation in different physiological events. In this study, the utility of CYP1A gene as molecular...
In this study, heritabilities for body composition traits, their genetic correlations with growth traits and the genotype–environment interaction (G×E) were estimated at 509days (harvest size) for the first time in gilthead seabream (Sparus auratus L.), from the offspring in two different production systems (cages and tanks) in the Canary Islands....
In this study, for the first time on gilthead seabream (Sparus auratus L.), genetic parameters for growth and carcass traits were estimated at 509 days (harvest size), and for growth only at another three ages (130, 165 and 330 days). A total of 867 offspring from an industrial mass spawning of 66 broodstocks were analysed. Parental assignment was...
This study reports two new and highly informative multiplex PCRs of microsatellite markers, with redesigned interspecific primer sets for three sparid species: gilthead seabream (Sparus auratus L.), red porgy (Pagrus pagrus L.) and redbanded seabream (P. auriga, Valenciennes, 1843). The evaluation and validation of the two multiplex PCRs, named Rim...
This study examines the utility of Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tagging system in fingerlings of gilthead seabream, Sparus auratus L. Two different body positions (abdominal, dorsal) and four weight classes (2–3 g, 3–4 g, 4–5 g, 5–8 g) were tested in three experiments. Tag loss rate, as well as its effect on growth and mortality rates, was...
In this study, the use of Visible Implant Elastomer (V.I.E.; Northwest Marine Technology Inc.) and Passive Integrated Transponder (P.I.T.; EiD Ibérica SA - TROVAN) tags in red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) were evaluated, as tag methods to know the genealogy under culture. For VIE tags, 0.5 and 2 g weight classes were tested, without any effect of the tag...
The use of the fluorescent visible implant elastomer (VIE) tagging system in juvenile gilthead seabream, Sparus auratus L., between 7 and 18 g was examined. Four different colours (red, green, orange and yellow), three body positions (dorsal, lateral and caudal) and two orientations (horizontal and vertical) were tested. The mean tag application ti...
The aim of the present work was to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of refrigerated and frozen goat colostrum and commercial sheep colostrum in kids. Forty-five Canary Caprine Group kids were distributed in three groups (n=15) according to the type of colostrum fed. The refrigerated and frozen colostrum were administered twice daily for 2 days...
Immature gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata L.) with a mean initial weight of 25.6 g were reared over 11 months to market size under different photoperiods: 16L:8D; 24L:0D and a control. Differences in final mean weight were significant between the three treatments (P<0.001): 16L:8D, 465.0 g; 24L:0D, 445.9 g; control, 402.6 g. Fish from the 24L:0D c...
In Mediterranean countries live weight at slaughter (LWS) for kid goats is lower than in Arabian or African countries. Logically, increasing LWS could increase a farmer’s profit margin. Forty-five twin male kids from the Canary Caprine Group breed were used to compare carcass and meat quality at 6, 10 and 25 kg LWS. Dressing percentage based on ful...