Effectivennes of an autogenous vaccine versus a comercial vaccine for tilapia

The advancement of Brazilian tilapia farming has brought new health challenges, with Streptococcus agalactiae infections being particularly concerning. To combat this, both commercial vaccines (made with heterologous strains) and autogenous vaccines (made with homologous strains) have been developed. This study analyzed data from three groups: a control group, a group vaccinated with a commercial vaccine (CM), and a group vaccinated with a custom autogenous vaccine (AU). Each group contained 27,500 fish. After rearing, the fish were vaccinated and monitored under identical conditions. The study compared the efficacy of both vaccines, finding that the AU group, while 20% more expensive, resulted in a 2.9% higher survival rate than the CM group and 6.6% higher than the control group. Additionally, the AU group had a 10.6% higher average weight gain than the CM group and 12% higher than the control group. Revenue per tank was 10.49% higher in the AU group compared to the CM group and 14.94% higher than the control group. Moreover, the AU group showed a lower feed conversion rate and higher productivity per cubic meter, indicating the effectiveness of the autogenous vaccine.