Culture of Monosex Nile Tilapia under Different Traditional and Non-Traditional Methods in India

Abstract: Little is known about the growth performance of sex-reversed, all male Oreochromis niloticus under different traditional and non-traditional culture methods practiced in India. In this study, 17"-methyltestosterone treated monosex tilapia was cultured in concrete tank, flow-through system, cage, pen and earthen pond. Similar feeding regime and stocking density of fish were maintained for all the culture systems. Different growth parameters like body weight, length, depth, daily weight gain (DWG), specific growth rate (SGR) and proximate body composition were analyzed at the end of the four month culture period. It was found that culture in earthen ponds yielded the highest weight, length, depth, DWG, SGR and protein content compared to other four culture methods. On the other hand, culture in concrete tanks showed the lowest growth among all culture methods. There was no significant difference in fish yield for flow-through, cage and pen culture systems. Additional availability of energy-rich natural food materials and uniform water flow in ponds may attribute to such trend in growth pattern of the fish among the culture systems. Thus, culture of androgen treated monosex tilapia in earthen ponds can be regarded as the ideal method for socio-economically sustainable augmented fish production in India. Key words: Nile tilapia % Monosex % Growth pattern % Culture methods INTRODUCTION in Nile tilapia where males grow significantly faster, large