As abalone is one of the country's economic resources, improvements to breeding are necessary, but in the past farm owners lacked methods to trace breeding results and this has made breeding outcomes uncertain.

Realising this, the research teams from the two organisations are considering using RFID chips attached to young abalone, which have come through the breeding process, to record their growth.

RFID is a technology that can trace and identify persons, animals or items individually so it can be used with abalone breeding to allow farm owners to identify individual abalone as they go through various stages in their life cycle.

Vivat Chavanikul, a lecturer from Chulalongkorn University's animal husbandry department, who also takes care of using RFID technology in animals at the university's pilot farm, said the project aimed to use the technology to improve local abalone breeding techniques.

"If we can develop better breeds of abalone we can have a better competitive advantage when exporting abalone products," he said.

The research team will attach RFID chips to the abalone's shell so they can check the status and growth of each individual abalone. This information is vital as it will help researchers to choose the best breed to become a breeding parent.

The team is seeking a suitable method to attach the chip to the abalone's shell. Since the abalone has small holes around the shell for breathing, Vivat said the team had to do more research to attach the chip in a proper position so it does not block the breathing holes.

"We will use 13-millimetre RFID chips attached to the shell, so we have to find the best position on the shell to put the chip. Meanwhile, we have to look into which age and size of abalone babies can have RFID attached," he said.

Apart from the chip attachment, the project also includes the development of software to help the team keep track of each abalone.

The software system will be a key in the breeding improvement process as it not only keeps track records of each abalone but also analyses information that will benefit the breeding selection process. Both the department of animal husbandry and the marine ecology laboratory will work with a private company to help develop the whole RFID system for abalone breeding.

The development process is expected to begin this month and after the RFID system is completed, the team plans to make experimental tests at the marine ecology laboratory's pilot farm in Chon Buri province.

The two organisation hope that utilising RFID technology will help researchers select the best abalone breeders. This knowledge will then eventually be distributed to other abalone farms around the country for further breeding improvement.

pongpen@nationgroup.com

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation