David Mbamba¹ , Kumbukani Mzengereza² , Wales Singini² , Fanuel Kapute² , Hastings Zidana¹

1. National Aquaculture Centre, P. O. Box 44, Domasi, Zomba, Malawi
2. Mzuzu University, Department of Fisheries Science, P/Bag 201, Luwinga, Mzuzu, Malawi
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Marine Science, 2016, Vol. 6, No. 31   doi: 10.5376/ijms.2016.06.0031
Received: 01 Jun., 2016    Accepted: 20 Sep., 2016    Published: 21 Sep., 2016

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.

Mbamba D., Mzengereza K., Singini W., Kapute F. and Zidana H., 2016, Comparison of Spawning Rate Between Wild and Improved Strain of Oreochromis shiranus (Boulenger, 1897), International Journal of Marine Science, 6(31):1-7 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2016.06.0031)

The study was conducted to determine the spawning rate of Malawian Tilapia, Oreochromis shiranus bred in hapas and placed in ponds at the Malawi’s National Aquaculture Centre (NAC). Two strains compared were improved strain from fifth (F5) generation brooders which were procured from a selective breeding program and the wild strain. The brood stock fish were grouped into 3 size categories (24-59g which was designated as treatment 1), 60-99g brooders were denoted as treatment 2 and treatment 3 comprised of brooders that were >100g. Two reproductive parameters were measured every fortnight: number of eggs produced and condition factor (CF) of the fish. The results showed no significant differences in the number of eggs produced between improved and wild strain (P<0.05). The study has demonstrated the significance of using body weight and standard length in selecting both wild and improved strain as a selection criterion for brooders in Malawian Tilapia aquaculture industry.

(F5) Generation brooders; Oreohromis shiranus; Malawi; Aquaculture; Standard length