Monosex and Hybrid production in

Tilapia

ANJUSHA. K. V
U­18­TN­03­002­D­F­001
DEPARTMENT OF AQUACULTURE
FC & RI, THOOTHUKUDI
 Why Monosex Tilapia ?

• Tilapia farmers choose to raise male tilapia only since they have a higher
growth rate compared to females

• Male- batches can be obtained through three main methods:

1. Hybridization
2. Manual sexing (It is difficult but not impossible)
3. Hormones
4. Genetic manipulation
 Mono sex Tilapia through Hybridization

• It is the act of breeding between two different species/genera, which

ordinarily are not interbreeding.
• Examples:
Nile Tilapia × Blue Tilapia ( O. niloticus × O.
aureus)
• Superior growth of males
• Fertile hybrids
• Increased cold and salinity tolerance
• Reciprocal cross gives 50% males & females
 O. niloticus × O. hornorum
• Predominantly male
offspring
O. niloticus × O. macrochir
Predominantly male offspring, but strain of Nile tilapia is important for
good fry production.
O. Mossambicus × O. hornorum

• Predominantly male offspring

• Fertile hybrids
• Slow growth and dark colour
 O. hornorum × O. mossambicus

• Red Tilapia with salinity tolerance

O. mossambicus × O. niloticus

• Red Tilapia with salinity tolerance

• Progeny of these give range of colours
• Known as Taiwan red tilapia
 Production of Red Tilapia

• Red hybrid tilapia - popularity among culturists

due to their resemblance to premium marine
species such as sea bream & red snapper.

• Red tilapia are genetic mutants selected from tilapia species in the genus
Oreochromis.

• Oreochromis sp. are taxonomically distinct from other tilapia genera because
females incubate fertilized eggs in their mouths.
• The first reported red tilapia hybrid was produced in Taiwan in the late 1960s

• Cross between a mutant reddish-orange female O. mossambicus and a normal

male O. niloticus and is called the Taiwanese red tilapia
(Galman and Avtalion, 1983).

• Off-spring from red tilapia parents will contain fingerlings with wild or dark
coloration and red or pink coloration with irregular black spots.

• Red tilapia brood stock must be continually selected for red color .
 Mono sex tilapia through hormone

•
treatment
Direct approach : monosex population produced directly by hormone treatment

• Indirect approach : monosex population can be obtained in two steps.

1. A broodstock population is established by sex reversal.

2. Then these sex reversed individuals should be bred to produce
monosex population.
 Methods of Hormone
treatment
 Dietary supplementation: The hormone mixed feed is the most widely
used and the easiest method for achieving sex reversal.

 Immersion technique: juvenile fishes are immersed in hormone

treated water.

 Injection : Injection requires less amount of hormone to cause sex

reversal. It is very much laborious and expensive.
 Steroid Hormones

• Androgens: 17-α- methyl testosterone

Testosterone
11-keto testosterone

• Estrogens: Estradiol-17-β
Estrone
• Doses of 17α-MT - 40, 60 and 80 mg of 17 α - MT/kg of feed
(From the 7th to the 28th day posthatching to produce all male tilapia population)

• After 15, 35 and 75 days and 1 year of treatment - growth parameters,

survival rate, sex ratio and gonad histology

• The maximum sex ratios of males (95% and 97%) were recorded at 60
mg of 17 α -MT/kg of diet after 75 days and one year of treatment
Mono sex tilapia through Genetic
manipulation
• Genetic manipulations - divided into three categories

1. Marker‐assisted
selection(MAS)
2. Cross‐breeding
3. Genetic modification.
 Marker‐assisted Selection

• Most efficient applications of biotechnology

• It improves selection efficiency compared to traditional selection schemes

• Selection is based on a marker linked to a trait of interest

(rothschild and ruvinsky, 2007) rather than on the trait itself.

 Cross-breeding
• Cross-breeding (Hybridization) is an essential technique for natural
recombination of male and female genetic material from different strains
or different species.

• Hybrid tilapia - O. niloticus (♀) and O. aureus (♂).

• These hybrid tilapia are popular, not only because they grow rapidly (20
and 70% higher body weight than its female and male parent, respectively)
 Genetic modification.
Transgenic Technology
• Transgenic technology is the introduction of exogenous genes into a recipient
organism, with the intention of changing the phenotype.
• gsdf transgenic XX tilapia showed normal testis development
(Kaneko et al., 2015).
• Crossing gsdf and amhy transgenic male with normal XX female may be an
effective method for producing all-male populations.
References:
• Marengoni, N. G., Onoue, Y., & Oyama, T. (1998). All‐male tilapia hybrids of two strains
of Oreochromis niloticus. Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, 29(1), 108-113.
• Hashim, R., Chong, A. S., Fatan, N. A., Layman, N., & Ali, A. (2002). Production of hybrid
red tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus× O. niloticus, at varying stocking densities in
portable canvas tanks. Journal of Applied Aquaculture, 12(3), 1-12.
• TILAPIA AQUACULTURE 2016 AND WHERE WILL WE BE IN 2026. Kevin
Fitzsimmons,2016.
• The History, Status, and Future Prospects of Monosex Tilapia Culture in Thailand | The
Fish Site
• Applied fish genetics : B.K.Padhi and R.K.Mandal.
• A text of fishery science and Indian Fisheries :C.B.L.Srivastava
• Pinto, L. G. (1982). Hybridization between species of tilapia. Transactions of the American
Fisheries Society, 111(4), 481-484.