New oyster variety cultivated with high nutrition

QINGDAO -- Chinese researchers have cultivated a new oyster variety with high nutritional value.

China ranks top worldwide on the oyster culture scale and in yield. Oysters also account for a quarter of the country's mariculture output.

Glycogen is a decisive factor for oysters' flavor and quality. The content of glycogen is easily affected by the aquaculture environment, season and physiological state. Thus the improvement of glycogen is crucial for oyster breeding research.

By analyzing the wild germplasm resources of oysters and their nutrition characteristics, researchers from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences achieved an outstanding breeding population of oysters by both molecular breeding and conventional breeding methods.

The researchers illustrated the characteristics of the glycogen content contained in the new oyster variety and developed efficient molecular markers and molecular breeding modules.

The new oyster variety has high glycogen content and remarkable market potential.