THE TILAPIA IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM (TIP)
To invest in broodstock
… is to profit in offspring
Improving performance of the offspring of your broodstock.
- Decrease your inbreeding percentage.
Maximise your growth potential
Create the best genetic lines for your farm type.
With a modern hatchery, it is advised to improve the genetics of the broodstock as well. The improvement of the genetics of broodstock is a continues process of which the benefits are only clear after several years of selection. Selecting for both growth as well as robustness is essential to stay ahead of the competition: by not implementing a good breeding plan for improvement, means that there is no progress. Without making progress it means that competitors (from abroad) are catching in, and will soon have an advantage with their improved stock. Therefore an improvement program is essential to keep up with competitors.
We suggest to set up a Tilapia Improvement Program to improve the productivity of the broodstock and improve the performance of their offspring. The effect of a well-designed breeding program is often underestimated, while performance can be improved with >10% for each generation.
The ultimate goal of a breeding program is to improve future generations. The underlying mechanism is to make optimal use of the variation between individuals. This variation is expressed in the so called phenotype of the different individuals. A breeding program is selecting the best individuals for a chosen trait to transfer their genes to the next generation.
