K.A. Saidu¹ , M.M. Paul² , I.J. Ochokwu¹ , A.H. Bichi¹

1 Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Federal University Dutsinma, PMB 5001, Dutsinma, Katsina State, Nigeria
2 Department of Science, Federal College of Freshwater Fisheries Technology, Baga, Borno State, Nigeria
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2021, Vol. 11, No. 1   doi: 10.5376/ija.2021.11.0001
Received: 18 Nov., 2020    Accepted: 01 Mar., 2021    Published: 18 Mar., 2021

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Saidu K.A., Paul M.M., Ochokwu I.J., and Bichi A.H., 2021, Influence of ovaprim and pituitary gland on the reproductive indices and growth of Clarias garipienus (Burchell, 1822) Broodstock reared in an indoor and outdoor pond, International Journal of Aquaculture, 11(1): 1-11 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2021.11.0001)

Ovaprim and pituitary gland from C. gariepinus was used to ascertain the reproductive indices and growth value of the hatchlings (F1) of C. gariepinus at the Fisheries and Research Institute Baga. Broodstocks mean body weight males (1200 g) and females (800 g) was collected from Lake Chad and transported to the institute hatchery complex. It was injected with ovaprim and pituitary gland. The fecundity, sperm volume and weight of the testes were estimated after the latency period. While the hatchlings were reared for eight weeks in a complete randomized design setup in an indoor and outdoor facility to evaluate the weight and length increase. The result revealed significant difference (P>0.05) in the fecundity of the females, ovaprim had 10,500 while pituitary gland had 7,000. There was significant difference (P>0.05) in % fertility and hatchability of the eggs. However, the male injected with ovaprim had higher milt volume (2.2 mL). Subsequently, there was no significant difference (P>0.05) in weight and length parameters across the treatments for the period of the research, the mean weight gains of fry reared indoor induced with ovaprim was 8.77 g while pituitary gland extract was 8.13 g.  Meanwhile, the fingerlings reared four weeks in an outdoor pond had a significant growth, the fingerlings induced with ovaprim had 14.35 g in weight gain while pituitary gland was 14.42 g. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference between the two hormones on fingerling production. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) between increase in length of fry reared indoors and outdoors for four weeks. This study proved that pituitary can effectively be used to induce Catfish breeding, when considering its availability and high cost of purchasing ovaprim.

Pituitary gland; Ovaprim; Reproductive indices; Growth and C. gariepinus