Evaluation of six sugar kelp crosses selected for high yield at three Northeastern US farms

Sugar kelp (Saccharina latissima), a brown macroalga, is a vital crop in the burgeoning seaweed aquaculture industry. As seaweed farms expand, the traditional practice of collecting wild sporophytes will be unsustainable. Developing new kelp cultivars that suit multiple farm conditions is necessary. To address this challenge, our breeding project selected six sugar kelp crosses to be grown in New Castle, New Hampshire; Duxbury, Massachusetts; and Moriches, New York, in the 2022–2023 growing season. We measured four plot level traits (wet weight, dry weight, sporophyte density, and percent dry weight), five single blade level traits (blade length, blade maximum width, blade thickness, stipe length, and stipe diameter), and three tissue composition traits (ash content, carbon content, and nitrogen content). All plot level traits except for the percent dry weight were affected by both crosses/genotypes (G) and farm site/environments (E). All blade level traits were significantly affected by crosses. Farm effects were only detected on blade maximum width and stipe diameter. For the tissue composition traits, ash content was not affected by either cross or farm site. Carbon content was only significantly affected by the farm site, while the nitrogen content was affected by farm site, cross and their interaction effects. These findings suggest that multi-farm testing for sugar kelp breeding programs is important for determining the best crosses for various growers. Understanding G by E effects can advance sugar kelp breeding for targeted traits and farms that will facilitate the adoption of cultivars toward sustainable economic growth on diverse kelp farms.