| In this study, chinook salmon were triploidized in order to (1) assess the efficacy of two triploid induction techniques, heat- and pressure-shock, (2) examine the utility of triploid chinook salmon for commercial aquaculture, and (3) to develop a description of the genomic architecture of triploids. Minimal differences in triploidization success, growth and immune functioning were found between heat- and pressure-shock treated family groups. Pressure-shock treated fish had higher survival compared to heat-shock induced triploids, though triploids did not survive or grow as well as diploids. Triploidization was also associated with increases in total phenotypic as well as additive genetic variance and a decrease in the influence of the non-additive variance component. These results suggest that triploidy may not have increased the genetic complexity of relationships among alleles or loci and that the primary effect of triploidization was additive. This is also highly suggestive of a ploidy-dependent regulation of gene expression. |
