Captive breeding programs based on family groups in polyploid sturgeons

Elisa Boscari; Jose Martin Pujolar; Isabelle Dupanloup; Riccardo Corradin; Leonardo Congiu

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0110951

Captive breeding programs based on family groups in polyploid sturgeons

PLoS One. 2014 Oct 30;9(10):e110951. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0110951. eCollection 2014.

Authors

Elisa Boscari¹, Jose Martin Pujolar², Isabelle Dupanloup³, Riccardo Corradin⁴, Leonardo Congiu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
² Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark.
³ Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
⁴ Department of Statistics, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.

Abstract

In species with long life cycles and discontinuous availability of individuals to reproduction, implementing a long-term captive breeding program can be difficult or impossible. In such cases, managing diversity among familiar groups instead of individuals could become a suitable approach to avoid inbreeding and increase the possibility to accomplish a breeding scheme. This is the case of several sturgeon species including the Adriatic sturgeon, whose recovery depends on the management of a few captive stocks directly descended from the same group of wild parents. In the present study, relatedness among 445 potential breeders was inferred with a novel software for pedigree reconstruction in tetraploids ("BreedingSturgeons"). This information was used to plan a breeding scheme considering familiar groups as breeding units and identifying mating priorities. A two-step strategy is proposed: a short-term breeding program, relying on the 13 remaining F0 individuals of certain wild origin; and a long-term plan based on F1 families. Simulations to evaluate the loss of alleles in the F2 generation under different pairing strategies and assess the number of individuals to breed, costs and logistical aquaculture constraints were performed. The strategy proposed is transferable to the several other tetraploid sturgeon species on the brink of extinction.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Breeding / methods*
Fishes / physiology*
Pedigree*
Polyploidy*
Software*

Grants and funding

Research was funded by the “Parco Regionale Veneto del Delta del Po” Progetto 2022EPPR12. The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.