Effects of Latency Periods and Injection Doses with Carp Pituitary Extract on Spawning Performance and Egg Quality of Asian Catfish, Clarias batrachus (Linn.)

ABSTRACT

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the spawning performance and egg quality of Clarias batrachus at variable latency periods (11, 14, 17, 20, and 23 h) and doses of carp pituitary extract (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 mg/kg). The fish could not be stripped at 11 h latency with 10 or 20 mg carp pituitary extract (CPE). The highest quantity of eggs was obtained at 14 to 23 h latency with 30–40 mg CPE or 50 mg CPE with 14 to 17 h latency, which did not vary significantly (P < 0.05) at a water temperature of 27°C–28.5°C. The eggs did not fertilize and hatch when stripped at 11-h latency period. Over 80% of total eggs stripped from females injected with 30 and 40–50 mg CPE per kg body weight, and stripped at 14 to 23 h and 14- to 17-h latency, respectively, were fertilized. However, the highest (P < 0.05) number of larvae was obtained from females injected with 40 mg CPE and stripped at 14 or 17 h latency periods. Therefore, this CPE dose and 17 h latency period combination was regarded as the best for obtaining the highest number of larvae during induced spawning of C. batrachus.

KEYWORDS:

• Clarias batrachus
• crude pituitary extract
• induced spawning
• working fecundity

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors are thankful to the Director, Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Kausalyaganga, Bhubaneswar, India, for providing facilities during the experiment.