Abstract

LOPEZ, Carlos A; CARVAJAL, Dewin L  and  BOTERO, Mónica C. Red tilapia (Oreochromis spp) masculinization by immersion using 17 alpha-methyltestosterone. Rev Colom Cienc Pecua [online]. 2007, vol.20, n.3, pp.318-326. ISSN 0120-0690.

Red tilapia (Oreochromis spp) is one of the most widely produced species throughout the world. A disadvantage for its production is the high precocity for reproduction; this fact affects their growth and generates overpopulation. Thus it must undergo a phenotypic sex reversion, mixing an androgenic hormone in its food during 30 days starting at the beginning of exogenous feeding. The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the masculinization of the red tilapia through the immersion in methyltestosterone (MT) solution. Two treatments were applied: 1) masculinization through food and 2) masculinization through immersion. The dose of MT was 60 mg/kg of food and 1.8 mg/l of water. The eggs were obtained from the females mouths. Four repetitions were made per treatment, each one of them with four subsamples, using cages with 45 larvae per subsample and a total of 720 larvae per treatment. The sex determination was made using two techniques: histology and visual sexing. The histological evaluation showed efficiencies of 100% in treatment 1 and 90.4% in treatment 2 (p<0.05), by analyzing a sample of 21% of the total population. The remaining individuals were analyzed by visual sexing method at day 97 and values of 100 and 92.6% males were obtained for each treatment, respectively. When both of the sex determination techniques were combined the values were 100 and 91.8%, with a significant difference (p<0.05) between treatments, with no statistically significant differences in productive parameters (weight and lengths) or survival of fry (p>0.05). The immersion technique can be recommended to replace the traditional technique since it presents smaller time consumption, less labor, reduces the exposure of animals and humans to the hormone and offer greater economic benefits in general.

Keywords : larvae; reproduction; reversion; sexing.

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