Comparison of Growth and Heterosis of Hybrids of Black-Chinned tilapia

The current study evaluated growth performance, survival rate, feed conversion ratio, heterosis, heritability, responses to selection and breeding values of four populations of Sarotherodon melanotheron from Fosu Lagoon, Brimsu, Baifikrom and Weija reservoirs in 4 × 4 diallel crosses aimed at producing a hybrid with high growth, reproductive and survival traits to enhance aquaculture production. Triplicates of a single-pair mating design for the diallel crosses yielded 3,840 fingerlings. These were tagged and stocked communally in both freshwater (cages) and brackish water (tanks) for 120 days using a randomized complete block design. The results indicated that five hybrids (Baifikrom × Fosu (RF), Fosu × Weija (FW), Brimsu × Weija (BW), Baifikrom × Brimsu (RB) and Brimsu × Baifikrom (BR)) were significantly (P ˂ 0.05) heavier in harvest body weight compared to their parental stocks and other hybrids. Overall mean heterosis estimates indicated that seven (7) out of the twelve hybrids exhibited positive heterosis ranging from 0.17 ± 1.95 to 22.17 ± 5.52 %. Moderate to high heritability ranging from 0.29 ± 0.05 to 0.63 ± 0.21 were observed for the hybrids.