WHY WAS THE RESEARCH UNDERTAKEN?

The research was undertaken to determine if disease resistance in Sydney Rock Oysters (SROs) can be increased while continuing to develop key marketable traits. This research provides information on how SRO families respond to disease and the mechanisms for disease resistance. It also provides a platform to look at where and how the breeding program can be refined to reduce its overall cost, making it more resource efficient for industry.

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WHAT ARE THE MAJOR FINDINGS/OUTCOMES SO FAR?

• Successful restructure of the breeding program to reduce the generation time for QX disease breeding to one year. This finding has already been integrated into the operation schedule of the breeding program.

• Determined that winter mortality disease is heritable and further work is continuing in this area.

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HOW IMPORTANT WILL THESE FINDINGS BE IMPORTANT TO INDUSTRY?

This research creates SRO families with increased marketability and disease resistance.  These families are already available to commercial hatcheries to extend genetic gains to industry. This will provide industry with greater capacity to respond to disease outbreaks and sell a better product. Ultimately, this leads to increased industry profitability.

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Please see video below for the research summary.