Effects of restricted phosphorus intake and stressors on the occurrence of deformities in farmed salmon (Salmo salar L.)

Previous experiments in Skretting ARC have demonstrated that the phosphorus deficient vertebral phenotype of salmon post-smolts is under mineralised but without any other malformation (Witten, Owen et al. 2015).This phenomenon gives us the opportunity to test in a systematic manner individual factors that affect the growth of under-mineralised bone. Thus we would like to test the influence of diet and stress on the risk of the occurrence of deformities in 600 farmed salmon (S.salar). The expected distress to the animal is thought to be light, as the procedures used to stress the animals are common farming practices (handling/vaccination). Due to the unknown aetiology of deformities in salmonid aquaculture live animals must be used however the number used in the experiment is limited to that which will provide significant differences between control and experimental groups (assuming an alpha value of 0,05 and a power of 0,8).