Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) is a non-profit public research organisation operating under the Finnish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Luke is the leading Finnish research institute in the bioeconomy sector, providing scientific information and new innovations for the industry.
Luke’s Breeding and Genomics group is an international top-quality group in developing and applying genetics, genomics and statistics in commercial animal breeding programmes and in developing breeding value estimation methods and software. This group together with Aquaculture Solutions group have over 20 years of experience in maintaining national breeding programmes for rainbow trout and European whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) for the benefit of the aquaculture sector.
“Luke is currently participating in 110 on-going EU projects, 12 of which are H2020 or HE projects coordinated by Luke. Luke researchers’ are encouraged to coordinate Horizon projects like AquaIMPACT while we get valuable contacts to companies and research organisations through the projects. It is also a sign of good quality of the research”, says AquaIMPACT project manager Sari Torkko.
In AquaIMPACT, Luke demonstrates genomic selection in rainbow trout breeding when commercial-level field data is used. Luke also demonstrates the genetic improvement of fish traits in a rainbow trout breeding programme, and its impact on supply chain profit and environmental loading. Luke leads and performs the task on consumer, regulatory authority and company surveys and communication. Antti Kause from Luke is the coordinator of AquaIMPACT.