Genomic and nutritional innovations for genetically superior farmed fish to improve efficiency in European aquaculture (AquaIMPACT)

Short description of the project: AquaIMPACT was a four-year project financed by Horizon 2020, aimed at integrating the fields of fish breeding and nutrition to increase the competiveness of EU's aquaculture of Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout, gilthead seabream and European seabass, to ensure food and nutrition security and to satisfy consumer demands for high-quality seafood with limited environmental impact.

Tangible results: The results of the project included developing product and services based on genomic selection for the European aquaculture breeding industry, with focus on cost efficient trait recording and genotyping, and selection for trait that can only be recorded under commercial conditions. By incorporating emerging ingredients, essential nutrients and appropriate additives developed by companies, novel nutritional and feeding strategies have been up-scaled and tailor-made specifically for the genetically improved fished arising from programmes. The tangible results, including advancements in genomic selection and tailored nutritional strategies for genetically improved fish in European aquaculture breeding, are elaborated upon in the extensive collection of webinars and videos, providing practical insights and applications for industry stakeholders.

Application/relevance: AquaIMPACT has economically optimised the use of genomic technologies, and demonstrated nutritional and digital solutions  to produce more robust, healthy, nutritious and resource-efficient fish, promoting industrial practices of re-circular bioeconomy, zero-waste and more efficiency use of natural resources.