commercial fish

Aquaculture in China reaches more than 60% of the world’s aquaculture production, which has been believed to be a major contribution to the world. As one of the most quickly growing extractive industries in China, aquaculture plays an important role in guaranteeing supply, stabilizing the market, ensuring national food security and promoting trade development. Gibel carp, one of the most important and popularly cultured freshwater fish, occupied 10% of the freshwater production in China.  

Since 1980s, researchers from Institute of Hydrobiology (IHB) of Chinese Academy of Sciences successively bred the improved varieties from allogynogenetic gibel carp, high-dorsal allogynogenetic gibel carp, allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅲ" by applying heterologous sperm gynogenesis to activate embryo development (termed allogynogenesis) and by utilizing multiple reproductive modes of gibel carp. Along with wide application of the varieties in the whole country, the production yields have increased from 48,000 tons in 1983 to 3,000,000 tons in 2016. 

For the past several years, IHB Prof. GUI Jian-Fang (CAS academician) and his team focused on basic biology and biotechnologies with particular emphasis on fish genetics and breeding. After breeding allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅲ" and gibel carp "Changfeng", they now applied unisexual gynogenesis and molecular module breeding technology to breed a new variety allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅴ" with the support from the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program entitled "Design breeding by molecular modules".  

Compared with allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅲ", the new variety has two major obvious advantages: one-year-old allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅴ" grows faster than “CAS Ⅲ" by more than 18% with lower protein bait coefficient in the same condition; the second obvious advantage is that "CAS Ⅴ" show higher resistance against the herpesvirus CaHV and the parasitic myxosporean disease than "CAS Ⅲ".  

Considered the allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅲ" had occupied 70% of the production in main culture regions, "CAS Ⅴ" is more valuable. In fact, from 2014 to 2017, the team performed large-scale culture experiments in Hubei and Jiangsu province. The results showed that the allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅴ" grew faster and gained higher survival rate by more than 20% than those of "CAS Ⅲ" and other varieties of gibel carps. In addition, the improved variety "CAS Ⅴ" has other valuable economic traits such as easier angling and less intermuscular bones.  

Now, IHB cooperates with several aquatic companies such as Guangdong Haid Group Co. Ltd., Huangshi Fuer seedlings Co. Ltd., and so on, and produces large-scale breed seeds. Confidently, the improved variety, allogynogenetic gibel carp "CAS Ⅴ" will occupy all the gibel carp culture regions in three years. 

 
"CAS Ⅴ" larvae  

 
"CAS Ⅴ" summer fingerlings