GENETIC CONSEQUENCES OF POND PRODUCTION OF A NATURAL PIKEPERCH Sander lucioperca POPULATION

Our target species the pikeperch (Sander lucioperca L.) represents a great potential for the diversification of European aquaculture. Concerning a commercial, cultured species like pikeperch, the efficiency of production and possible breeding programs in the future are largely influenced by the genetic variability of the species. The basis of this variance is the genetic diversity of the native populations. The aim of the present study is to describe the genetic consequences of pond culture in pikeperch.

The estimation of the genetic divergence of a cultured stock originating from a native population during a 10 years period or a single generation was targeted by the comparison of the genetic variability of a wild population of pikeperch (Sander lucioperca L.) living in Lake Balaton, a broodstock originating from the lake and its offspring generation. A total of 15 microsatellite DNA markers were used to genotype all individuals.

The genetic variability of the wild, Balaton population and the two reared stocks are similar. According to the expectations the diversity decreased in the broodstock and in the fingerling compared to the wild population. The fingerling showed even lower diversity than the broodstock but the difference was not significant (Table 1).

The results of the Fst outlier test (Lositan) on our dataset defined that two of the loci were outliers marked as candidate for positive (separating) selection Figure 1.

Our study demonstrates that pond culture (semi-natural conditions) could result in a similar situation as hatchery rearing. Although the genetic diversity could be maintained at a high level, the lower effective population sizes led to partially decreased variability compared to the natural populations. Despite the similar conditions and the relaxed predation pressure, alterations in the environmental parameters bring on selection even as it was detected in two of the 15 markers in the present study. The study was supported

by the Government of Hungary within the project GINOP-2.3.2-15-2016-00025.