| Welcome to
ASICo's Website! Aquatic Stock Improvement Company
(ASICo), now offers a
molecular genetic approach based upon DNA microsatellites for aquatic
domestication programs, stock identification, pedigreed and lineage tracking, and Marker
Assisted Selection. The use of such tools are highly complementary to all
traditional breeding programs based upon phenotypic strategies. Marker technology has been
in wide use for the past twenty years in other sectors of agriculture such as plants,
poultry, swine and cattle industries. More recently, such technology has been applied to
the salmon and oyster sectors of aquaculture with a very high level of success. In salmon,
for example, genetic selection coupled with phenotypic programs over the last twelve years
have produced strains that display over 30% faster growth while production costs (feed,
labor, fuel, etc.) were reduced more than 25%. Such gains in aquaculture and agriculture
are well documented and characterize business maturity and growth within those sectors. |
