Cohen Job, Twijnstra Robert, Schiller Jessica, Montecinos Arismendi Gabriel, Reus Brigit, Soetaert Karline, Timmermans Klaas
Department of Estuarine and Delta Systems, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 4401NT Yerseke, The Netherlands.
Centre for Isotope Research (CIO) - Oceans, Energy and Sustainability Research Institute Groningen, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Groningen, PO Box 11103, 9700CC Groningen, The Netherlands.
J Appl Phycol. 2025;37(2):1213-1226. doi: 10.1007/s10811-025-03447-7. Epub 2025 Jan 23.
The potential of seaweed aquaculture is restricted by high labor, production and processing costs, leading to low economic viability. Selective breeding can improve yields and cultivation efficiency, thereby decreasing production costs. Until now, genetic resources as input for breeding trials have been sourced strictly locally, due to concerns regarding outplanting genetically exogenous material in local waters. Here we study, for the first time, worldwide interregional fertility of the seaweed in order to assess the potential of including global genetic resources for selective breeding with regard to heterosis. We quantified the yield (as an indicative aquacultural performance) and morphological traits of intra- and interregional hybrids originating from a broad range of locations in a common garden experiment. Our results show that the practical application of worldwide genetic resources in breeding programs is feasible based on global interfertility. We found a wide morphological diversity of hybrids and observed significant heterosis in interregional hybrids. The degree of heterosis could not be linked to geographic distance. These findings reveal that worldwide genetic resources can considerably contribute to breeding programs and could offer a major next step in improving yields and quality traits.
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10811-025-03447-7.
海藻养殖的潜力受到高劳动力、生产和加工成本的限制，导致经济可行性较低。选择性育种可以提高产量和养殖效率，从而降低生产成本。到目前为止，由于担心在当地水域种植基因外源材料，作为育种试验输入的遗传资源一直严格来自当地。在这里，我们首次研究了海藻在全球范围内的区域间育性，以评估纳入全球遗传资源进行杂种优势选择性育种的潜力。我们在一个共同花园实验中，对来自广泛地点的区域内和区域间杂种的产量（作为指示性养殖性能）和形态特征进行了量化。我们的结果表明，基于全球可育性，全球遗传资源在育种计划中的实际应用是可行的。我们发现杂种具有广泛的形态多样性，并在区域间杂种中观察到显著的杂种优势。杂种优势程度与地理距离无关。这些发现表明，全球遗传资源可以为育种计划做出重大贡献，并可能为提高产量和品质性状提供重要的下一步措施。
在线版本包含可在10.1007/s10811-025-03447-7获取的补充材料。
