Survival, growth and sexual maturation of the triploid hybrid between rainbow trout and arctic char

Abstract

Triploid hybrids between female rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and male arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), together with triploid and diploid rainbow trout controls from the same dams, were tested in freshwater farming from fry stage up to the age of 3 years. When farming was operated in cold water, the survival rate of the hybrids was as good as those of the diploid and triploid rainbow trout. Hybrid growth was noticeably hindered relative to that of diploid controls at the beginning of the juvenile period, but this was partly tempered later on by the effect of diploid sexual maturation; at 3 years of age, the hybrid weighed 20% less than the diploid rainbow trout and did not differentiate significantly from the triploid rainbow trout. The impairment of sexual maturation was very much the same in the hybrid as in the triploid rainbow trout, and dressing traits were therefore quite similar, despite a slight difference in perivisceral fat losses of immature individuals, to the advantage of the hybrid. These results allow one to consider the suitability of this hybrid for large-sized fish production in cold water farming.