For Growers
In planned field trials on the West Coast of the United States with a commercial grower, we compared the growth rates of diploids, induced triploids, and 4Cs' natural triploids.
The industry has generally observed that in some environments where conditions are unfavorable, induced triploids appear to perform worse than diploids. Because of this, 4Cs' natural triploids were tested in productive and unproductive bays in the Pacific Northwest of the US. In both cases, 4Cs' natural triploids generally performed better than induced triploids (see tables below).
Regarding survival, in the low productivity site all groups survived equally well to market size. In the high productivity site, 4Cs' natural triploids had the higher survival rate.
Concerning growth, 4Cs' natural triploids grew faster than induced triploids and at approximately the same rate as diploids. In the high productivity site, 4Cs' natural triploids outgrew both induced triploids and diploids.
A comparison of the yield of meats from the three groups indicates that 4Cs' natural triploids yielded more meat than induced triploids in all cases:
Low productivity: Natural Triploids = Diploids, Natural Triploids > Induced Triploids
High productivity: Natural Triploids > Diploids, Natural Triploids > Induced Triploids
Overall, 4Cs' natural triploids have the edge over induced triploids in the field as well as in hatcheries. In some cases, the extra productivity is surprisingly high, as can be seen in the productive sites.
See Research for studies comparing the productivity of 4Cs' natural triploids to diploids, and see Benefits of Triploidy to learn more about the many other benefits of 4Cs' natural triploid oysters.
Low Productivity Environment
| Diploid | Induced Triploid | 4Cs' Natural Triploid |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Survival (%) | 84.8 | 86.1 | 86.2 |
| Avg. Wt. (g) | 8.8 | 7.8 | 8.5 |
| No. Oysters | 1018 | 1033 | 1034 |
| Yield (kg) | 8.958 | 8.057 | 8.789 |
| Vs. 2n | - | -10 | -1.9 |
| Vs. 3n CB | - | - | +9.1 |
High Productivity Environment
| Diploid | Induced Triploid | 4Cs' Natural Triploid |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Survival (%) | 60.6 | 53.5 | 66.3 |
| Avg. Wt. (g) | 18.7 | 18.9 | 22.3 |
| No. Oysters | 727 | 642 | 793 |
| Yield (kg) | 13.595 | 12.134 | 17.684 |
| Vs. 2n | - | -11 | +30 |
| Vs. 3n CB | - | - | +46 |