Reproductive, Growth Performance and Nutrient Utilization of Heterobranchus bidorsalis (Geoffroy, 1809) and its Hybrid Clariabranchus Induced with Synthetic Hormone and Pituitary Gland of Heterobranchus bidorsalis

This study was conducted to assess the reproductive performance, growth rate and nutrient utilization capacities of pure breed Heterobranchus bidorsalis (H. bidorsalis ? x H. bidorsalis ?) and its hybrid (H. bidorsalis ? x C. gariepinus ?) (Clariabranchus) induced with synthetic hormone (ovaprim) and pituitary of male and female Heterobranchus bidorsalis. In this study, 3 female Heterobranchus bidorsalis, 3 male Heterobranchus bidorsalis and 3 male Clarias gariepinus were used for the experiment. One female H. bidorsalis induced with ovaprim produced eggs which were divided into two equal halves. Each half was fertilized separately by milt from H. bidorsalis and C. gariepinus to produce pure breed and hybrid, respectively. A similar crossing was done for the female H. bidorsalis induced with Male Pituitary Extract (MPE) and Female Pituitary Extract (FPE). Percentage fertilization and hatching rate of pure breed induced with ovaprim were significantly (p<0.05) higher than the other genetic crosses. The highest values for weight gain (5.461.58 g), average daily growth (0.390.11 g) and specific growth rate (1.040.16%/day) occurred in pure breed induced with MPE. The lowest values for these growth parameters were obtained in the hybrid induced with FPE. Feed intake, protein intake, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio varied significantly (p<0.05) among the treatments. This study has shown that the pure breeds and hybrids induced with ovaprim and MPE performed better than those induced with FPE. Therefore, they are recommended for commercial aquaculture.