INRAE Aquaculture is composed of 4 installations:

1. INRAE-PEIMA (Experimental Fish Culture Station of Monts D'Arrée) is the reference experimental unit at INRAE for research on all life stages of trout, mostly in physiology (reproduction, growth, behaviour, adaptation, etc.), genetics and nutrition. It offers a hatchery, 156 fry tanks of 200-400 L, 156 tanks of 2 m3 and 26 tanks of 28 m3, a behavioural study room with 20 tanks of 500 L and 16 video cameras, a semi-industrial recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) of 10 tanks of 6 m3 linked with an aquaponic system, a RAS unit of 3 independent thermoregulated rooms (6°C to 18 ° C) linked with an aquaponics greenhouse. INRAEPEIMA also has a world-unique collection of trout lines with original characteristics like growth, sex ratio, fat content, spawning date, adaptation to plant-based diets, and disease resistance, including 20 isogenic lines of rainbow trout. INRAE-PEIMA allows experimentation on all stages from eggs to large trout, including processing in a specialized facility. Access to trout isogenic lines requires a specific collaboration agreement. PEIMA hosts all INRAE research teams working on farmed salmonids (which can bring scientific support to visiting scientists) but also other research organizations or universities in France and Europe (e.g. Universities of Wageningen, Göteborg, Stirling, Vigo, and South Bohemia).

2. INRAE-STPEE (Fish nutrition Farms and platform) consists of 3 complementary platforms dedicated to nutrition of rainbow trout throughout the whole life cycle: Platform 1: Donzacq fish farm (17°C constant) has a feed manufacturing plant with a twin-screw extruder and wet labs, large (160 m3) and small scale (5000 and 200L) flow-through raceways, 36 50L tanks, 48 1m² tanks, 18 2m² tanks for juvenile nutrition. Platform 2: Lees Athas fish farm (7°C constant) comprises a hatchery for up to 400 groups of eggs; a UV-treated thermoregulated system to produce eggs and fry; 84 self-cleaning tanks for juvenile nutrition, 16 tanks of 200L, 32 tanks of 500L; 6 concrete tanks and 8 raceways of 12 to 20m3 for broodstock nutrition. Platform 3: 2 Specialized facilities, located at St Pée-sur-Nivelle, including (1) 2 independent RAS systems each with 12 tanks, equipped with self-feeders to (i) monitor feeding rhythms, (ii) control feed distribution and (iii) evaluate the amount distributed. The setup also enables feed choice experiments (2) 3 series of 6 cylindro-conical tanks in RAS with automatic faeces collector recognised by EIFAC as the most valid method for in vivo evaluation of apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of diets and ingredients. INRAE-STPEE can undertake all types of nutrition research experiments, using rainbow trout (freshwater) as the main study model. It has been actively used in experiments from EU projects from the 5thFP to H2020 (PEPPA, RAFOA, GUT INTEGRITY, FINEFISH, AQUAMAX, PROMICROBE, LIFECYCLE, AQUAEXCEL, ARRAINA, AQUAEXCELAQUAEXCELAEXCEL3.0). An AQUAEXCELength to the experimental infrastructure is the proximity of nutrition researchers which provides a healthy environment for scientific interaction and exchange.

3. INRAE-IERP (Fish Infectiology Platform) is dedicated to fish infectiology. It supports research programs on fish pathology, immunology, vaccinology, and genetics of resistance/susceptibility to diseases. EOPS rainbow trout and carp are available for infectious challenges. Trout are the INRAE reference strain or from isogenic lines with contrasted resistance to a range of pathogens produced at INRAE-PEIMA (collaboration agreement). IERP also has access to inbred carp families from WU. The fish installation (1000m²) consists of rooms for breeding pathogen-free fish with 4 RAS, 344 incubators or 86 aquaria, and 18 tanks of 200L. The infectiology part (BSL2 confinement) has 104 aquariums in recycled or flow-through water, and 14 tanks of 300L in recycling or in lost water. Imaging equipment enables fish monitoring and host-pathogen interactions through GMO pathogens with reporters. INRAE-IERP produces and supplies rainbow trout and carp with specific genetic and sanitary status, and performs in vivo infectiology experiments. Pathogens include both classical and emerging viruses and bacteria (trout: VHSV, IHNV, ISAV, Alphavirus SDV and SPDV, Flavobacterium psychrophilum; carp: SVCV). Experimental set-up benefits from the expertise of INRAE labs Molecular Virology and Immunology (VIM) and Animal Genetics and Integrative Biology (GABI). INRAE-IERP also comprises an imaging platform (clearing; biphotonic microscopy ...) in which new protocols are developed, including the usage of fluorescent pathogens to better monitor infections. The facility is part of the EMERG’IN research infrastructure and is also a partner of the VetBioNet infrastructure project.

4. INRAE-LPGP (Fish Physiology and Genomics Facility) is unique in France as it is accredited for the rearing of GMO fish of agronomic interest such as trout. It offers (i) genome editing (ii) behavioral phenotyping, (iii) germ cell grafting into surrogate larvae (iv) the ability to experiment over the entire life cycle by varying environmental parameters. It has 10 rearing rooms with 20 RAS systems, more than 100 large tanks (trout, pike, goldfish…) and more than 1,000 small tanks for model species (zebrafish, medaka). It also contains a room dedicated to egg microinjection for the production of transgenic or genome-edited fish. INRAE-LPGP proposes the production of transgenic or genome-edited fish (Trout, model fish; GET service) that includes egg injection, genotyping and fish rearing up to the reproductive stage. It also proposes a service for germ stem cell grafting (GCGraft service) into recipient embryos and the rearing of the surrogate fish for up to one year. ISC-LPGP also proposes behavioural phenotyping of rainbow trout (video cameras, Ethovision software, behavioural maze setup).