Abstract

THE GROWTH AND SURVIVAL OF VARIOUS FORMS ANDROGEN SEX – REVERSAL OREOCHROMIS NILOTICUS CULTURED USING HAPAS IN CONCRETE TANK

A. Omoike*, A. E. Falaye, F. C. Okoye and S. Abubakar

Abstract

The production of same sex Oreochromics niloticus to enhance better and uniform growth for Tilapia culture has called for technological means using sex-reversal hormones Methyl Testosterone (MT), this study will look into the percentage growth and survival of Oreochromics niloticus fry. The experimental fish Oreochromics niloticus fry of 0.90 cm total length were fed with three artificial feeds treated with three forms and concentrations of Methyl Testosterone (MT): Treatment A has 30mg/kg in tablet form, Treatment B was 30mg/kg in oil form and Treatment C was 50mg/kg in tablet form. A 35 days trial feeds were fed to the fish 5 times each day to obtain all male Tilapia fry population and grown to fingerling stage in outdoor tank for 56 days. The sex – reversal efficiency of the MT was analyzed after feeding the fry/fingerlings in hapas mounted inside outdoor tank. Conversion efficiency, condition factor and survival rate of the fry/fingerlings were also analyzed. The result obtained from the study shows that the sex reversal was effective in that the male: female ratio was significantly different (p > 0.05) in favor of the male. The temperature had significant effect on the growth rates of the fingerlings, but showed no effect on their survival (p > 0.05). The food conversion ratio and condition factor did not show any significant difference (p > 0.05). This study shows higher form of the tablet of MT seems to be more potent than the oily form, The highest average final weight was recorded in treatment B but the FCR shows no significant difference (p > 0.05) in the treatments, this study has revealed that the different form and concentration of Methyl Testosterone (MT), has potency for growth rate, sex reversal with high survival rate of Tilapia fry.

Keywords: Methyl Testosterone, Oreochromis niloticus, growth, survival, sex reversal.