2008 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Develop and refine year-round production of hybrid striped bass fingerlings through photothermal, dietary, and culture manipulation. Increase hybrid striped bass production efficiency through physiological control of stress, gender, and hormonal growth factors. Increase hybrid striped bass production efficiency by refining nutrient requirements, manipulating feeding strategy and diet nutrient density, and reducing fish meal and oil content. Develop genetically superior Morone species. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Evaluate photothermal manipulation and hormonal stimulation to induce off-season spawning of Morone sp. Evaluate the effects of stocking density, feeds and feeding strategies, and environmental conditions on survival and growth of hybrid striped bass and fingerlings in tanks/ponds. Characterize the physiological stress response to production practices with respect to environmental, nutritional, and genetic factors. Characterize gender-related production characteristics and develop methods of sex reversal to produce monosex populations. Determine conditions that increase growth-promoting actions of growth factors such as growth hormone, and insulin-like growth factors. Determine the nutrient digestibility of traditional and alternative feed ingredients to replace fish meal. Determine or refine nutrient requirements for different life stages and production systems. Use phenotypic and genotypic characters to evaluate new strains for economically revelant traits. Identify phenotypic and molecular differences among stocks of white/striped bass. Implement a selective breeding program to produce progeny with desired traits. Develop molecular markers for economically relevant traits to aid selective breeding efforts. 3.Progress Report Experiments were conducted at HKDSNARC to determine the optimum temperature and feeding protocols for live feeds (rotifers, ultra small microcyst Artemia, and standard Artemia) used in producing sunshine bass fingerlings indoors. Two scientific articles were accepted for publication on the culture of sunshine bass in tanks without rotifers (215624) and the effect of shad populations on plankton communities and water quality in catfish ponds (ARIS #224888). Two scientific articles were submitted for journal review on the effect of a commercial dye used for weed control in sunshine bass fingerling production (ARIS #228938) and the effect of shad populations on catfish production (ARIS #220024). Field work was completed to determine the effect of a wheat herbicide on live food organisms in ponds used for fingerling fish production. (NP 106, Component 6b) A scientific article (ARIS #221717) on significant advancements at HKDSNARC to replace fishmeal with poultry by-product in commercial pond diets for hybrid striped bass was accepted for publication. Experiments were completed with Kentucky State University to compare methods of determining essential nutrient availability in different grades of by-products for feeds aimed at market-size hybrid striped bass. Results were presented to members of industry and science at an annual aquaculture convention, and a scientific article (ARIS #228566) was submitted for journal peer-review. A cooperative agreement was initiated with the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to further collaborative work in replacing fish oil in aquafeeds with a by-product of the Alaskan Fishery (Pollock viscera). Analytical work was completed in a collaborative project with ARS/SGPGRU Hagerman, ID to define essential nutrients and their digestibility to hybrid striped bass and rainbow trout in several potential replacements for fishmeal in aquafeeds. Two scientific articles (ARIS #220043, 220050) on the availability of nutrients in feedstuffs to rainbow trout were accepted for publication. (NP 106, Components 6c and 6d) White bass were successfully spawned off-season for two quantitative genetic experiments to determine the effect parents have on growth and performance. In the Spring 2008, 51 single-parent crosses were made using white bass to develop broodstock for the Morone National Breeding Program. An experiment was completed with collaborators from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff to determine parental influence on larval fish characteristics. White bass broodstock were tested for stress and growth response for inclusion in a selective breeding program at HKDSNARC. Tagging methods using inert fluorescent polymers were developed in white bass for use in fingerling performance testing to greatly decrease the cost associated with molecular methods for family origin determination. Experiments were conducted to determine genotype by dietary carbohydrate content interaction. Striped bass fed a high carbohydrate diet had significantly higher fat, a larger liver, and grew at a lower rate compared to fish fed a low carbohydrate diet. (NP 106, Components 3a and 3b) 4.Accomplishments 1. POND DYE DOES NOT REDUCE SUNSHINE BASS PRODUCTION OR CONTROL AQUATIC PLANTS: Rooted aquatic plants interfere with the harvest of sunshine bass in ponds and increase labor costs and risk by tangling or smothering fish in nets. Some pond dyes claim to control aquatic vegetation, but producers fear the dyes will also reduce the production of live feed organisms required by small fish. An experiment at the HKD-SNARC found that application of a commercial dye to ponds did not reduce the number and weight of fingerling fish harvested, nor did it reduce rooted pond plants. The potential impact of this finding will be to reduce financial costs and risks associated with hybrid fingerling production. (NP 106, Component 6b) 2. BRANCHED-CHAIN AMINO ACID REQUIREMENTS ARE DEFINED FOR HYBRID STRIPED BASS: Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. Without requirement estimates for essential nutrients like amino acids commercial diets for hybrid striped bass cannot be developed or improved. The balance of branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) in the diet is critical but unknown for hybrid striped bass. The required levels of leucine, isoleucine, and valine were determined for hybrid striped bass in a series of dose-response experiments at the HKD-SNARC, and the results were reported to an forum of industry members. The actual impact is economic in that these levels are now used to formulate more accurate cost-effective feeds. The potential impact is that these levels will advance efforts to replace fishmeal in fish feed with cheaper proteins that are balanced with supplemental amino acids. (NP 106, Components 6c and 6d) 6.Technology Transfer Number of New Commercial Licenses Executed 9 Review Publications Perschbacher, P., Ludwig, G.M., Edzigie, R. 2008. Effects of atrazine drift on production pond plankton communities and water quality using experimental mesocosms. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. 39(1):126-130. Ludwig, G.M., Lochmann, S. 2007. Effect of tank stocking density on larval sunshine bass growth and survival to the fingerling stage. North American Journal of Aquaculture. 69:407-412. Rawles, S.D., Smith, S.B., Gatlin, D.M. 2008. Hepatic glucose utilization and lipogenesis of hybrid striped bass (Morone chrysops x M. saxatilis) in response to dietary carbohydrate level and complexity. Aquaculture Nutrition. 14:40-50. Ludwig, G.M., Rawles, S.D., Lochmann, S.E. 2008. Effect of rotifer enrichment with fatty acids on sunshine bass morone chrysops X M. saxatilis larvae growth and survival. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. 39(2):158-173. Fuller, S.A., Henne, J., Seals, J., Mudrak, V. 2008. Performance of commercially available Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag systems used for fish identification and interjurisdictional fisheries management. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 28(2):386-393. Fuller, S.A., Carmichael, G.J. 2007. Cryopreservation of sperm of the endangered gila trout, Oncorhynchus gilae. Journal of Applied Aquaculture. 19(1):71-79. Thompson, K.R., Rawles, S.D., Metts, L.S., Smith, R., Wimsatt, A., Gannam, A.L., Twibrll, R.G., Johnson, R.B., Bardy, Y.J., Webster, C.D. 2008. Digestibility of dry matter, protein, lipid, and organic matter of two fish meals, two poultry by-product meals, soybean meal, and distiller's grains with solubles in practical diets for sunshine bass. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. 39:352-363.