Policies to promote breeding for lice-resistant salmon: Incentives designed for resilient and sustainable growth in aquaculture.

Sea lice represent a persistent and growing problem, challenging the resilience and growth of the salmon aquaculture industry. In this Norwegian case study, we studied and discuss how the absence of policy instruments directed at stimulating breeding for lice resistance (LR) might be explained. We found well-documented opportunities for selection progress for LR.

Patent Ethics: The Misalignment of Views Between the Patent System and the Wider Society.

Concerns have been voiced about the ethical implications of patenting practices in the field of biotechnology. Some of these have also been incorporated into regulation, such as the European Commission Directive 98/44 on the legal protection of biotechnological inventions. However, the incorporation of ethically based restrictions into patent legislation has not had the effect of satisfying all concerns.

Direct and social genetic parameters for growth and fin damage traits in Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua).

Background: The aim of the study was to estimate genetic parameters for direct and social genetic effects (SGE) for growth and welfare traits in farmed Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). A SGE refers to the effect of an individual's genes on trait performance of its social partners. In total, 2100 individually tagged juveniles from 100 families at an average age of 222 days post-hatching were used.

Prevalence of Anaplasma phagocytophilum infection and effect on lamb growth.

Background: A major challenge in sheep farming during the grazing season along the coast of south-western Norway is tick-borne fever (TBF) caused by the bacteria Anaplasma phagocytophilum that is transmitted by the tick Ixodes ricinus.

Methods: A study was carried out in 2007 and 2008 to examine the prevalence of A. phagocytophilum infection and effect on weaning weight in lambs.

A comparative study of clinical manifestations, haematological and serological responses after experimental infection with Anaplasma phagocytophilum in two Norwegian sheep breeds.

Background: It has been questioned if the old native Norwegian sheep breed, Old Norse Sheep (also called Norwegian Feral Sheep), normally distributed on coastal areas where ticks are abundant, is more protected against tick-borne infections than other Norwegian breeds due to a continuously high selection pressure on pasture. The aim of the present study was to test this hypothesis in an experimental infection study.

Methods: Five-months-old lambs of two Norwegian sheep breeds, Norwegian White (NW) sheep and Old Norse (ON) sheep, were experimentally infected with a 16S rRNA genetic variant of Anaplasma phagocytophilum (similar to GenBank accession number M73220).

Individual variation and intraclass correlation in arachidonic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid in chicken muscle.

Chicken meat with reduced concentration of arachidonic acid (AA) and reduced ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids has potential health benefits because a reduction in AA intake dampens prostanoid signaling, and the proportion between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids is too high in our diet. Analyses for fatty acid determination are expensive, and finding the optimal number of analyses to give reliable results is a challenge. The objective of the present study was i) to analyse the intraclass correlation of different fatty acids in five meat samples, of one gram each, within the same chicken thigh, and ii) to study individual variations in the concentrations of a range of fatty acids and the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acid concentrations among fifteen chickens.