Name: Mishyree C.

Andatuan Subject: Fish 526 (Applied Genetics)

Title:

Quantitative genetics of body weight, fillet weight and fillet yield in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis
niloticus)

1. What is the Research gap of the study?

- Improvement of fillet weight in this breeding program could most likely be more efficiently
obtained at both a lower investment and running cost by applying individual (mass) selection for
increased body weight. In such cases, the rate of inbreeding could be restricted by early pooling
of a limited number of fish per family
- The proposed cure model can be extended to involve single gene effects and/or genomic
breeding values. For example, a cure survival model has been used to discriminate between
single gene effects on incidence and latency of scrapie in sheep. In Atlantic salmon, a major QTL
has been identified that gives virtually complete protection against the viral disease infectious
pancreatic necrosis indicating that a cure survival model may be appropriate for this trait.

2. What are the Genetic Techniques used in the study?

- With the objective of how to best improve fillet weight in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)
through selection round and gutted body weight and fillet weight were recorded at harvest over
four generations (G0, G1, G2 and G3) and from which the following traits were derived: Fillet
yield (fillet weight×100/round weight), - non-edible part of the fish (NEP=round weight−fillet
weight), and non-meat part of the gutted weight (NMP=gutted weight−fillet weight)

3. What are the major findings of the study?

- terminating the test at a still increasing mortality implies that selection is shifted towards
improved endurance rather than reduced susceptibility. If possible, challenge tests should
therefore continue until mortality naturally ceases, as this maximizes the potential importance
of susceptibility status on the recorded end-survival (and survival/censoring time).

4. What is/are the significance of the findings of the study?

- The genetic correlation between round weight of fish reared in cages and in ponds was unity
(1.00) indicating no genotype by environment interaction for this trait. The genetic correlations
between round, gutted and fillet weights were all close to unity, as were the genetic correlations
of round and fillet weight with the calculated traits NEP and NMP. The close to unity genetic
correlation between round body weight and fillet weight indicates that genetic improvement of
one of the traits without achieving a proportional genetic change in the other is difficult or even
impossible.

5. What are the potential research topics as follow up to the present study?
- if increased growth leads to harvest at a younger age rather than higher weight, response in
fillet yield may not be observed. Improvement of fillet weight can be obtained through direct
selection for increased round body weight, a strategy that is both more efficient and less costly,
due to the fact that round body weight can be recorded on the live breeding candidates.