Corday Goddard, Ph.D. Dean of Student Affairs | Mayville State University
Corday Goddard, Ph.D. Dean of Student Affairs | Mayville State University
Dr. Michael Kjelland, an associate professor at Mayville State University, contributed to a study that offers new insights into cost-saving breeding practices for catfish farmers in the United States. Conducted at Auburn University, the research suggests that traditional indicators used by farmers to select male catfish for breeding—such as head size and coloring—do not necessarily correlate with sperm quality or quantity.
The study highlights that current methods may reduce profitability due to the labor-intensive nature of developing hybrid catfish embryos and a lack of scientific guidelines for selecting optimal males. It was found that less sperm is needed for successful fertilization than commonly believed, leading to unnecessary sacrifices of mature males which are costly to raise.
The research team comprised hatchery scientists from Auburn University, including Dr. Kjelland; Luke Roy from Auburn Extension; Ian Butts, who served as project director; and Rex Dunhan, Butler-Cunningham Eminent Scholar in Agriculture & Environmental Science at Auburn. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture awarded them $430,000 to improve reproductive efficiency and cut production costs in hybrid catfish farming.
Dr. Kjelland expressed his enthusiasm for aquaculture research stemming from his Ph.D. work at Texas A&M University (TAMU), where he collaborated with Drs. Delbert Gatlin and Michael Masser at the TAMU Aquacultural Research and Teaching Facility. His previous research on zebrafish DNA fragmentation has been published in a scientific journal.
"I really enjoyed this opportunity to participate in catfish research once again," said Kjelland.
Further details about this study can be found online, along with information on student research opportunities at Mayville State through Dr. Kjelland's contact email: michael.kjelland@mayvillestate.edu.
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