GenoMar, the world’s premier tilapia breeding company today announces a partnership with Xelect Ltd., a global leader in marker assisted selection to bring higher yielding tilapia to the market. This worldwide and exclusive partnership confirms the commitment of Genomar to continuously develop the GenoMar Supreme Tilapia ™ (GST) strain to supply tilapia markets with highly differentiated products. By licensing Xelect’s unique intellectual property Genomar will be able to further improve the fillet yield of broodstock and fry supplied to producers serving the fast growing fillet market. Today around 700,000 tonnes of live tilapia is processed into fillets mostly for the North American and European markets, accounting for 15% of global tilapia production. The market for value added tilapia products is expected to increase substantially in the future. GenoMar’s line of Xelect High Yield tilapia will provide producers with an anticipated 3.1% additional fillet per tonne body mass over the already market leading yield of the regular GenoMar Supreme Tilapia ™ (GST) strain. The additional value of fillet production derived from each individual parent breeder is estimated at 97 kg worth some U$776 at current prices. GenoMar is conducting extensive field trials of the high yield line at its Philippines facilities with the aim of delivering the first fully tested product on the market later next year.

Dr Alejandro Tola, CTO at GenoMar commented “We are always searching for innovations that can create value for our customers of genetic material. There is a lot pressure for efficiency in the tilapia industry and we immediately saw a great potential to improve profitability through the application of Xelect’s proprietary markers for fillet yield.”

Prof. Ian Johnston FRSE, CEO Xelect, commented “the Xelect High Yield markers are the fruition of several decades of academic work on the genetic basis of muscle development and growth in fish. We have developed genetic assays to identify fish with natural variations in gene sequences leading to a higher meat yield”

Dr Tom Ashton, Executive Director Xelect, commented “Xelect is pleased to partner with Genomar, the leading tilapia breeding company, to bring our high yield technology to the market. The Tilapia high yield markers supplement those already licenced to SalmoBreed and under trial licence to Landcatch Natural Selection and Marine Harvest, for Atlantic salmon.”