Stress response of farmed European abalone reveals rapid domestication process in absence of intentional selection

Type Article
Date 2017-11
Language English
Author(s) Lachambre Sebastien1, 2, Day Rob1, 3, Boudry PierreORCID4, Huchette Sylvain2, Rio-Cabello Antoine1, Fustec Tirnothee5, Roussel Sabine1
Affiliation(s) 1 : UBO CNRS IRD Ifremer, Inst Univ Europeen de la Mer, Technopole Brest Iroise, LEMAR,UMR 6539, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
2 : France Haliotis, F-29880 Plouguerneau, France.
3 : Univ Melbourne, Sch Biosci, Parkville, Vic 3010, Australia.
4 : UBO CNRS IRD Ifremer, UMR LEMAR 6539, IFREMER, Ctr Bretagne, F-29280 Plouzane, France.
5 : Inst Super Agr, 48 Blvd Vauban, F-59046 Lille, France.
Source Applied Animal Behaviour Science (0168-1591) (Elsevier Science Bv), 2017-11 , Vol. 196 , P. 13-21
DOI 10.1016/j.applanim.2017.07.004
WOS© Times Cited 15
Keyword(s) Abalone aquaculture, Domestication syndrome, Behavioural adaptation, Responses to stress, Immune response, Farm stressors
Abstract

Farming, and thus the domestication of Haliotis tuberculata, began recently. We compared the responses of unselected farmed and wild abalone to stressors that occur on farms. The aim was to determine if the farm environment had induced differences in the behavioural or physiological performances of the abalone. Thirty hatchery-born 3.5 year-old abalone and thirty wild ones were reared under standard farm conditions for 6 months and characterised for 19 traits related to growth, survival, behaviour and immunology. Behavioural and immunological responses to stressors differed between the two stocks. Farmed abalone retracted and swivelled less in reaction to a finger contact. Phagocytosis efficiency was reduced by shaking in abalone from both origins, but the farmed stock returned to the basal level after the recovery week, while wild abalone did not, and a rise of total haemocyte count after shaking and its return to a basal level after one week was only observed for the farmed stock. This indicates that both behaviour and immune responses following a stress have been affected by the farming practices. This suggests that a domestication process has already been initiated in the farmed stock. Our results may also be important for the success of any population enhancement based on hatchery-produced abalone as they raise the question of the capacity of abalone with a farmed origin to be adapted to the wild environment.

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