Effects of restricted phosphorus intake on the occurence of vertebral deformities in farmed Atlantic salmon

Previous experiments in Skretting ARC have demonstrated that the phosphorus deficient vertebral phenotype of sea transferred salmon is under mineralised but without any other malformation (Witten, Owen et al. 2015). In addition, we have shown that phosphorus deficient post smolt salmon can be re-mineralized without tissue alteration (Witten et al., 2018). These findings led us to test phophorus deficiency in juvenile Atlantic salmon which may lead to develop vertebral defomities in addition to under mineralized bone. We would like to test the influence of restricted phosphorus diet on the risk of the occurrence of deformities in 540 farmed salmon (S. salar). 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).