Aquaculture Africa 2024

November 19 - 22, 2024

Hammamet, Tunisia

Add To Calendar 21/11/2024 15:20:0021/11/2024 15:40:00Africa/CairoAquaculture Africa 2024AQUACULTURE GENETIC IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME IN ZAMBIA: THE CURRENT STATUS, OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES AND ADAPTABLE LESSONS LEARNED FROM ITS IMPLEMENTATIONAmphi Cesar The World Aquaculture Societyjohnc@was.orgfalseDD/MM/YYYYanrl65yqlzh3g1q0dme13067

AQUACULTURE GENETIC IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME IN ZAMBIA: THE CURRENT STATUS, OPPORTUNITIES, CHALLENGES AND ADAPTABLE LESSONS LEARNED FROM ITS IMPLEMENTATION

Mwanza Y., Hamilton M, Kikamba E & Malambo T.

WorldFish Centre, Zambia Office

Y.Mwanza@cgiar.org

 



The population of Zambia is growing, and with it, so is the need for fish, but the nation’s fish output hasn’t kept up the required growth rate to keep up with the rising demand. Recently, improved indigenous germplasm has been developed in the nation thanks to a collaborative effort on the genetic improvement of Oreochromis andersonii. The Zambian government, WorldFish and its partners collaborated to develop this GIP, which aims to provide improved germplasm and ultimately increase aquaculture outputs. Understanding that employing exotic material poses risks to biodiversity, the Zambian tilapia genetic improvement program has concentrated on the development of the native species, O. andersonii. To determine the genetic diversity of O. andersonii that are undergoing the GIP, it is crucial to continoulsy characterize the generations tilapia species fish in a GIP.  In the past, fish morphology was the primary source of knowledge for taxonomy and evolutionary studies. Because of their cost and accessibility of use, scientists have continued to rely heavily on the morphology of taxonomic features, even in the face of the availability of DNA markers for these sorts of research. This is especially true when paired with statistical analysis. In larger biological studies, this has proven to be of higher value for identification and classification. In order to investigate shape variations across generations of O. andersonii that are undergoing genetic improvement in Zambia, this study used the geometric morphometric technique. Discriminant function analysis and canonical variate analysis were used to examine and characterize shape variation. The observed form differences might be attributed to the genetic diversity resulting from the genetic improvement effort or the phenotypic plasticity of O. andersonii. Further investigation is necessary to elucidate the source of this shape variation.