Investigation of the Link between Broodstock Infection, Vertical Transmission, and Prevalence of Flavobacterium psychrophilum in Eggs and Progeny of Rainbow Trout and Coho Salmon

The etiological agent of bacterial coldwater disease (BCWD), Flavobacterium psychrophilum , can be transmitted both vertically and horizontally. Outbreaks of BCWD can result in significant losses in salmonid aquaculture. Reduction of outbreaks in fry may be possible through implementation of a management strategy in which progeny of heavily infected broodstock are culled from the general population. Diagnostic assays to quantify F. psychrophilum concentrations in tissue samples and confirm presence of the bacterium in ovarian fluid have been previously validated. In the current study, these assays were used to screen 60 female Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and 60 female Coho Salmon O. kisutch broodstock at two aquaculture facilities. Eyed eggs from 10 female broodstock (five fish from each facility) exhibiting graded levels of infection were transferred to the University of Idaho and monitored through early life stages for the presence of F. psychrophilum . Female Rainbow Trout broodstock were not positive for F. psychrophilum by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and prevalence was low in these progeny. However, ELISA optical density values for kidney correlated to F. psychrophilum prevalence in progeny ( r = 0.938, P < 0.05) of Coho Salmon. Nested PCR on ovarian fluid was not a reliable indicator of vertical transmission in either species as broodstock ovarian fluid results did not correlate to F. psychrophilum prevalence in eyed eggs. Further research with these assays is necessary; however, results from this study indicate that broodstock screening may be a potential tool for evaluating F. psychrophilum infection levels, which could become an important component for disease management. Received December 19, 2012; accepted December 8, 2013