(VASEP.com.vn) A new tilapia strain is showing strong potential to improve production efficiency in Brazil. Field trial results indicate a 27% faster growth rate, lower feed consumption, and a production cycle shortened by approximately 30 days. The findings were reported at a commercial fish farm in the state of Paraná, Brazil's largest tilapia-producing region.
According to genetics company GenoMar, two trial ponds achieved an excellent feed conversion ratio (FCR) of only 1.29 kg of feed per kilogram of fish produced, while the average daily weight gain reached 5.6 g/day. Compared with historical production data from the region, feed consumption was reduced by approximately 300 g per kilogram of harvested fish, contributing significantly to lower production costs.
GenoMar is a member of the EW Group (Germany), a global leader in poultry genetics. The company has applied decades of expertise in poultry breeding to tilapia genetics, building on the 30th generation of the GIFT (Genetically Improved Farmed Tilapia) breeding program—one of the world's largest genetic improvement programs for tilapia. After the GIFT program concluded, GenoMar acquired the original breeding stock and imported broodstock from the Philippines to Brazil in 2021 to establish local production.
Paraná was selected as the commercial evaluation site because it has a well-developed tilapia production chain, with strong integration among farmers, cooperatives, and processing plants. According to industry experts, as farming techniques, nutrition, and disease management have reached a high level of development, genetics is expected to become the key driver of the industry's next stage of growth.
At A&R Fish Farm, which produces approximately 600,000 tilapia per production cycle, the survival rate of the trial fish exceeded 92%, with harvest weights approaching 1 kg per fish after 168–177 days of culture. GenoMar stated that it will continue introducing new generations of improved strains to increase productivity, enhance fillet yield, help farmers reduce production costs, and strengthen the competitiveness of Brazil's tilapia industry in the coming years.
