Líffræðifélag Íslands - biologia.is
Líffræðiráðstefnan 2019
Erindi/veggspjald / Talk/poster V36
Höfundar / Authors: Snorri Már Stefánsson, Sigríður Guðmundsdóttir, Birkir Þór Bragason, Guðni Guðbergsson, Árni Kristmundsson
Starfsvettvangur / Affiliations: Tilraunastöð Háskóla Íslands í meinafræði að Keldum
Kynnir / Presenter: Snorri Már Stefánsson
Bacterial kidney disease (BKD), caused by Renibacterium salmoninarum (Rs), has produced significant problems in the fish farming industry. As Rs is common and widely distributed in wild salmonids in Iceland, the use of untreated surface water is considered reckless. The objective of this study is to examine the origin of Rs infections in three land-based farms in Iceland, and furthermore to investigate the possible effect on wild salmonids in the vicinity of Rs infected Atlantic salmon farms.
Material sampled so far: (1) Wild salmonids collected from brooks; (2) Fingerlings from these two farms (3) Water samples: (a) At entry into the facility; (b) Inside the farms before it reaches the tanks; (c) Waste water disposed from the farms and into the fjord. All samples were screened for Rs using polyclonal ELISA and qPCR.
All 51 salmonids sampled from the brooks were positive for Rs antigens in ELISA while four were positive in qPCR. All fish sampled from Farm I, some of which showing clinical signs of BKD, were positive in both ELISA and qPCR, while no fish were positive from Farm II in either test. All the water samples were positive in ELISA while only one sample was positive in qPCR.
The results show that the Rs is present in wild salmonids and water samples from the brooks used, to some extent, as source water in the farms. That poses a risk for Rs being introduced into the farms and therefore, using solely pathogen free borehole water is without doubt the safest option.