Triploid production in Mytilus edulis

Prince Edward Island (PEI) is a leader in North America in the production of blue mussels Mytilus edulis. Concerns in the PEI mussel aquaculture industry over poor product quality during, and immediately after the spawning period have prompted research on triploid mussels. Triploid shellfish are sterile and retain quality during the spawning period. The aim of this research was to develop a method to produce triploids and to test performance of them versus normal diploids under culture conditions.

The first goal of this research was to develop a triploid induction technique and optimize the technique so it could apply to commercial production of seed. This involved investigating the timing of meiotic events in the local blue mussel. The resulting description of meiotic events was used to develop a series of suitable treatment time windows for testing in the optimization of the triploid inducing technique. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).