The crossbreeding between the female tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) and the male pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) is a production strategy widely used by fish farms in tropical regions of South America, because the hybrid tambacu gathers the good growth traits of tambaqui with the resistance to low temperatures of pacu. However, the superiority of the tambacu hybrid must be tested from an economic point of view, mainly considering its body taits for the processing industry.
With the objective of comparing the performance, body characteristics and economic production rates of the tambacu hybrid with the pacu, a growth experiment was carried out in ponds for 163 days with the evaluation of 240 animals each of the genetic groups. At the end of the experiment, 120 animals from each genetic group were weighed, and of these, 60 were stunned, sacrificed and processed to obtain carcass, rib and fillet yields. The economic viability indices were calculated based on the costs of a pacu and tambacu production cycle in one hectare of water, including installation of ponds, growth and harvesting, and on the income generated by the sale of “gutted fish”, “rib” and “filet” products from each genetic group, considering the values practiced in the Vale do Ribeira region - SP - Brazil in 2018.
Although the pacu had better carcass traits, with higher (p<0.05) fillet yield, the tambacu hybrid showed better (p<0.05) performance (Table 1). The greater growth of tambacu compensates for its lower fillet yield, since all its economic viability indices were more favorable than those of pacu (Table 2), including when considering the commercialization of fillet.