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The aims of this study were the estimation of genetic parameters for survival rate from tagging until harvest and the evaluation of the correlated response in survival rate to selection for harvest weight in the genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT) strain. The heritability for survival rate was low (0.038), and so was its genetic correlation with harvest weight (0.065), suggesting that selecting for the latter trait would have had no effect on survival. The calculation of the probability of survival by spawning season and line, fitting a model that included the random effects of individual animal and common environment, confirmed this prediction. There were very small and variable between line differences in the probability of survival, which generally favoured the selection line. We conclude that the focus of the GIFT programme on improving harvest weight was not detrimental to the survival of the fish during the grow-out phase.

Flesh characteristics comprising chemical composition (protein, fat and moisture percentages and pH) as well as a sensory attribute (colour) were measured in 1951 fillet samples from two generations of two populations (a selection line, selected for increased harvest weight, and a control line, selected for average breeding values for harvest weight) of the genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT) strain of Nile tilapia. These data were jointly analysed with 5331 harvest weight records from three generations to estimate genetic parameters and correlated selection responses. Multiple trait animal models were used in the analyses. The potential for correlated responses was evaluated by estimating heritabilities and genetic correlations between body traits (weight, length, depth and width) and fillet traits (weight and yield) with the above mentioned flesh characteristics. The heritabilities for protein%, fat% and colour were low (0.06–0.11), whereas for moisture% and pH they were moderate (0.15–0.20). Genetic correlations among some flesh characteristics (moisture% with protein%, fat% and pH and with fat%) as well as between body and fillet traits with flesh characteristics, were significantly different from zero but low (−0.34 to 0.31). Correlated responses were evaluated by comparing the least squares means between the Selection and Control lines. Our results indicate that selection for high growth increased harvest weight in the Selection line relative to the Control line but it did not change the flesh characteristics of the GIFT strain;