SELECTIVE BREEDING OF TILAPIA: STATUS AND PROSPECTS

Geneticists at Akvaforsk Genetics, now a Benchmark company, have more than 30 years of experience working with selective breeding of tilapias and other species of fish and shrimp. Based on the highly successful GIFT-project for Nile tilapia in the Philippines, Akvaforsk Genetics has supervised the establishment of family-based selective breeding programs for Nile tilapia, Blue tilapia and red tilapia in Asia and the Americas. Based on the extensive experience from developing these programs, an in-house selective breeding program for Nile tilapia was established in the US in 2010. This state-of-the-art breeding program is operated by our Benchmark sister-company Spring Genetics.

The presentation will focus on the status of selective breeding of tilapias, highlighting achievements in three leading programs focused on improving the production efficiency (growth, survival), robustness (growth/survival in different environments, survival in environmental and specific disease challenge-tests) and product quality (external color). Pioneering work related to selection for improved resistance to Streptococcus spp. And application of genomic tools will be discussed.