Abstract
In a wide range of animal species relatives show better social behaviour to each other than to unrelated conspecics, for example food sharing and reduced aggressiveness. Such behaviour has the potential to increase tness and may
have evolved through the process known as kin selection. In addition to tness benets, reduced competition in agricultural populations may also increase performance. In aquaculture populations, competition for feed is an issue,
as it reduces growth and inates phenotypic variability among individuals. In domestic Nile tilapia the coefcient of variation (CV) of body weight is ~60%, which is high and undesirable. A potential way to reduce competition, and
increase yield and uniformity of trait values in Nile tilapia, is to utilize the consequences of past kin selection, i.e. the potential evolution of kin discrimination and cooperative behaviour among relatives. However, it is almost entirely unknown whether relatedness among group mates in Nile tilapia leads to higher growth rates and better uniformity. In this study we compared two experimental treatments: rearing of sh in kin groups vs rearing in non-kin groups. In the kin groups all individuals were full-sibs. In the non-kin groups half of the individuals were full-sibs from the same family as the individuals in the kin group, while the other half were unrelated individuals. Six families were
used in the experiment. We analyzed average body weight (BW), and standard deviation and CV of BW, between the two treatments. Results of our study show that individuals had signicantly higher BW in groups composed of kin
(8.6±2.6 g), indicating that domestic Nile tilapia may exhibit kin-biased behaviour. The effect of relatedness on BW was higher for males than females, beyond the scaling effect, which may be related to a higher level of competition
among males. There was no difference in variability of BW between both treatments. Aquaculture farming may benet in yield by rearing individuals in groups composed of relatives.
have evolved through the process known as kin selection. In addition to tness benets, reduced competition in agricultural populations may also increase performance. In aquaculture populations, competition for feed is an issue,
as it reduces growth and inates phenotypic variability among individuals. In domestic Nile tilapia the coefcient of variation (CV) of body weight is ~60%, which is high and undesirable. A potential way to reduce competition, and
increase yield and uniformity of trait values in Nile tilapia, is to utilize the consequences of past kin selection, i.e. the potential evolution of kin discrimination and cooperative behaviour among relatives. However, it is almost entirely unknown whether relatedness among group mates in Nile tilapia leads to higher growth rates and better uniformity. In this study we compared two experimental treatments: rearing of sh in kin groups vs rearing in non-kin groups. In the kin groups all individuals were full-sibs. In the non-kin groups half of the individuals were full-sibs from the same family as the individuals in the kin group, while the other half were unrelated individuals. Six families were
used in the experiment. We analyzed average body weight (BW), and standard deviation and CV of BW, between the two treatments. Results of our study show that individuals had signicantly higher BW in groups composed of kin
(8.6±2.6 g), indicating that domestic Nile tilapia may exhibit kin-biased behaviour. The effect of relatedness on BW was higher for males than females, beyond the scaling effect, which may be related to a higher level of competition
among males. There was no difference in variability of BW between both treatments. Aquaculture farming may benet in yield by rearing individuals in groups composed of relatives.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Book of Abstracts of the 70th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science |
| Place of Publication | Wageningen |
| Publisher | Wageningen Academic Publishers |
| Pages | 513 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9789086868902 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9789086863396 |
| Publication status | Published - 28 Aug 2019 |
| Event | 70th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (2019) - Ghent, Belgium Duration: 26 Aug 2019 → 30 Aug 2019 https://www.eaap2019.org/EN/Home/tabid/9594/Default.aspx |
Conference/symposium
| Conference/symposium | 70th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (2019) |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | EAAP 2019 |
| Country/Territory | Belgium |
| City | Ghent |
| Period | 26/08/19 → 30/08/19 |
| Internet address |