Artificial Spawning of African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus: Stimulation of Ovulation Using Carp Pituitary or Ovopel

摘要

The effects of controlled reproduction of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, were investigated in an experiment with carp pituitary (at the dose 4 mg/kg body weight) or Ovopel (1 pellet/kg body weight) used as ovulation stimulators. The applicationof the synthetic stimulator led to the significantly (P<=0.01) greater weight of eggs (expressed in grams and as percentage of female body weight) and to the significantly (P<= 0.05) higher quality of eggs after 24-hour incubation as compared with the hypophysation effects. Two categories of females were used in the experiment, i.e., light (mean body weight of 3.75 kg) and heavy (mean body weight of 8.86 kg) fish. The results show that a significantly (P<= 0.01) greater weight of eggs (expressed in grams) was obtained from heavier females. The quality of eggs expressed as the percentage of live embryos after 12- and 24-hour incubation was significantly (P<= 0.01 and P<= 0.05, respectively) higher for lighter females. The higher weight of obtained eggsand their better quality after Ovopel stimulation compared to the weight and quality of eggs obtained after hypophysation allow for the recommendation of this ovulation stimulator for the fish species investigated.