Service traces the genetic profile of female brood fish and allows the selection of individuals for crossbreeding aimed at improved animal performance and at preventing inbreeding. Crossings between animals that are interrelated, which is called inbreeding, cause productivity losses of over 10% and a fry mortality rate that can reach 25% of the school. Technology will help farmers trade female brood fish based on the genetic structure of their broodstock. Advance also contributes to the genetic improvement of the species. Service offered by Embrapa to fish farmers is cheaper and offers the interpretation of the data collected. Breeders of the most farmed fish species in Brazil, tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), have just won extra support to face hindrances in the fingerling and fattening stages of breeding, when fry mortality rates can reach 25% of the production. The novelty is the genetic tool TilaPlus, developed by Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (DF) in the scope of the AquaPlus platform (read the box). It will help to overcome difficulties in crossbreeding mates without inbreeding, and thus increase the qualitative and quantitative potential of the broodstock. Aimed at tilapia analysis services, this technology reaches the market with the approval of entrepreneurs and breeders responsible for the production of 841,000 tons of cultivated fish in 2021 - which include tilapia, according to a survey performed by the Brazilian Association of Fish Farming (Peixe BR). In the same year, tilapia totalled 534,000 tons produced in Brazil. TilaPlus, in practice, is a useful genomic test for parentage, kinship, individual identification and genetic variability analyses for tilapia, which can be applied in the genealogyical management of broodstock. Similarly to other aquacultural species, tilapia is very prolific and its young forms (larvae and fry) pose challenges for individual marking and identification due to their reduced size. According to researcher Alexandre Caetano, responsible for the development of the test and other services available in AquaPlus, this type of problem is maximized by the lack of good tools and processes for pedigree management, which leads to inbreeding (crossing of kindred animals) - either to produce fry for production or to replace brood fish. "Inbreeding causes production losses in the fingerling stage, with the additional death of approximately 25% of the fry, and also generates production and productivity losses in the fattening stage, which can be above 10% and reflects in farm profitability", the scientist explains. Interview with the researcher Alexandre Caetano, from Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology TilaPlus facilitates the trade of female brood fish As soon as tilapia growers start to use the services available in TilaPlus, they will have answers about the level of kinship of the female brood fish in their broodstock. This means farmers will have information to plan their mating and thus increase the genetic potential of the broodstock, obtaining productivity gains. "Moreover, TilaPlus can also be used in the analysis of samples of more than one farm, facilitating the exchange and sales of female brood fish based on broodstocks' kinship and genetic structure", the researcher observes upon commenting on how the possibility strengthens fish farming. TilaPlus was tested in 192 samples collected in retail stores, which allowed the initial technical validation of the tool. Further on, it tested 336 samples from of seven commercial fish farms located in the Brazil's South, Southeast, Northeast and Midwest. After those two stages, the genetic tool was ready for the validation in operational environments. According to Alexandre Caetano, two contracts for the provision of services with two farmers are already in place. He reports that one of them had 100% of his broodstock analyzed, which allowed the full reconstruction of animals' pedigree and the structuring of a crossbreeding map to generat families and for the enterprise's breeding and genetic improvement program. Even though the development is recent, the production sector has already requested the analysis of 719 samples of brood fish so far. "TilaPlus represents one of the pillars of the services and technologies that the AquaPlus platform's team offers to the sector for the characterization, management, breeding and genetic improvement of aquacultural species," he details. Alexandre Caetano talks about TilaPlus on the show Café com Ciência [Coffee with Science], by Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology Cost/benefit: TilaPlus is efficient and economical It takes around seven days from the moment the sample is received until the analysis results are delivered, at the cost of R$ 90 per sample. This expense, depending on the volume of material sent for TilaPlus testing, can fall to R$ 84 per sample. This amount is due to the material and equipment in use. "The use of the tool has a cost, as reagents are imported and the equipment is extremely expensive, and in Embrapa's current business model with the production sectors, it is necessary to pass on some of the costs to farmers," explains Alexandre Caetano. The cost per unit, however, are quite below market value, which can be ten times higher and does not offer the interpretation of data, only delivering raw information referring to genotyping to farmers. In contrast, the services of the AquaPlus Platform with TilaPlus include the whole process of DNA extraction, data generation and analysis, and the presentation of the result in a simple format so that the farmer can use the genetic analyses in broodstock management. Genetics to improve production quality In the outskirts of Nova Aurora, Pará, amidst soybean plantations, the farmer Claucir Boaretto set up the Boaretto Fish Farm. In the last harvest, he recorded the production of 600 million tilapias and 15 million fingerlings of the species. He intends to increase the volume of animals and especially the quality of the broodstock. That is why he bet on the TilaPlus testing, and is one of the pioneers in the use of the tool. Operating since 1993, Boaretto has kept a breeding stock aimed at producing fry and fattening tilapias. He is excited with the changes provided by the genetic mapping of the female brood fish and with the spreadsheet of matings that resulted from the analyses performed in the Animal Genetics Laboratory at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology. "With this, we will prevent inbreeding, we will have higher survival of larvae, fish with better carcass performance and vigor, and higher yield", Boaretto confidently stated. Listen to farmer Evandro Schmitt's experience with TilaPlus Photo: Claucir Boaretto's personal files (image of the property with tanks in the middle of soybean plantation). The AquaPlus Platform Targeting the fish farming market, since 2019 Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology has been making solutions for sector bottlenecks available through the AquaPlus Platform, with special attention to the processes of management, use, selection, breeding and genetic improvement of female brood fish and genetic lineages, while striving for simplicity, practicality, low cost, and high return of investment for target audiences. Two other Units of the corporation are partners in this initiative: Embrapa Fishery and Aquaculture (in the development of the TambaPlus asset) and Embrapa Digital Agriculture (with TambaPlus and VanaPlus). Besides TilaPlus, the platform offers: TambaPlus Kinship - ttest with genomic tools developed for the analysis and certification of kinship and purity of tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum), fundamental requirements to increase the productivity of the native fish - the most produced one in Brazil. TambaPlus Purety - asset that helps farmers keep purebreed lineages pure and consolidates the Embrapa's core collection of tambaqui germplasm. VannaPlus - genomic tool that helps the whiteleg shrimp production chain (Litopenaeus vannamei) in breeding programs and in identifying pedigree of shrimp from multiple families raised in fattening tanks. The asset tests parenthood, kinship, and makes individual identifications.