Research and Development

Our extensive research and development activity, carried out in-house and with university and research institute partners, is focused on improved disease resistance, survival and growth rates.

A raft of scientific techniques also underpins the skills and experience we bring to breeding programme support services we provide to Atlantic salmon producers around the world.

Landcatch was the first aquaculture company, in collaboration with the the Roslin Institute, University of Glasgow and Stirling Institute of Aquaculture, to pinpoint QTL, or major gene influencing Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN) in 2007. Using this QTL for IPN resistance, Landcatch were the first company to apply Marker-Assisted Selection in commercial aquaculture breeding.

We moved on to demonstrate that sea lice resistance also is inherited, then produced juvenile fish with improved resistance and are breeding on from selected pedigree families to increase genetic resistance in each new generation.

And the pace of development is set to accelerate, as we looking to combine this incremental approach with use of a cutting-edge genomic selection tool for Atlantic salmon – the SNP chip. Used to correlate variations in DNA sequences – or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms – with predisposition to disease, this technology is being developed with a number of commercial and academic partners, including Edinburgh University’s Roslin Institute, Stirling Institute of Aquaculture and Glasgow University, with support from the UK Technology Strategy Board.

Apart from sea lice resistance, we will also use this genomic selection technology to target other traits including resistance to other diseases, grilsing, omega-3 levels and general survivability.”