The Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory in Singapore has been working on a tilapia breeding program since 2011. The team is breeding a “premium tilapia” that is tougher, grows faster, is disease resistant and rich on omega-3.
Tilapia is a traditional brackish-water or freshwater fish. Singapore doesn’t have much freshwater sources and only 9 percent of the fish eaten in Singapore are produced locally. As the country has a big coast line, researchers are working on adapting tilapia to grow in seawater to increase local production of animal protein.
The laboratory is also using a sex-reversal method to produce all-male tilapia because they grow twice as fast as females.
The premium tilapia is expected to be commercialized in the coming years.
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