Effects of Maternal Age on Reproductive Performance and Growth of Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.) Fry
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Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the effects of maternal age on spawning frequency, egg quantity and quality, and growth performance of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.) fry. The study was conducted on two age classes of Nile tilapia broodstock, 6 and 24 months old, stocked in 3 replicate concrete tanks. Eggs were collected from mouth of females once a week. Number of spawned female, total weight and number of eggs collected from each tank as well as water quality were monitored and recorded weekly. Comparison study on growth performance of fry produced from female broodstock of different ages was consecutively carried out for five weeks. The study on reproductive performance revealed that the weight of 6-month old females (279±7 g) was significantly lower than that of 24-month old females (909±37 g) (P<0.05). The young female broodstock spawned more frequently, 13.6±3.3 femaleweek-1 compared to 5.8±1.9 female.week-1 of the old female broodstock. The two maternal ages produced not significantly different total weight of eggs per week, 98.9 ± 19.7 and 75.2 ± 28.8 g.week-1, respectively. However the young female broodstock could produce better relative weight of eggs at 26.4 ± 2.8 g.kg-1, week-1 compared to 14.0±2.1 g.kg-1, week-1 of the old female broodstock (P<0.05). The young female broodstock also produced significantly higher number of eggs per week (44,793±12,318 eggs.week-1) but smaller in size (2.25±0.23 mg.egg-1) compared to the old female broodstock (21,368±10,125 eggs.week-1 and 3.07±0.20 mg.egg-1, respectively), (P<0.05). Water quality by mean DO and TAN in the old broodfish tanks (3.9±0.6 and 2.92±0.23 mg.l-1, respectively) were inferior to those in the young broodfish tanks (5.0±0.6 and 0.55±0.13 mg.l-1, respectively). Poor water quality in the old broodfish tanks was possibly caused by the higher quantity of feed given due to the high biomass of the old broodfish and insufficient water exchange. Different-sized eggs apparently hatched out fry of different sizes. Fry produced from small eggs weighed less than those hatching from large eggs, 0.363 ± 0.001 and 0.438 ± 0.031 g, respectively (P<0.05) by the fifth week of nursing. The Average Weight Gain (0.314 ± 0.008 and 0.375 ± 0.027 g) and Average Daily Gain (0.012 ± 0.000 and 0.014 ± 0.001 g.d-1) further reaffirmed that different sized fry hatched out from different sized eggs. Specific Growth Rate of fry from small- and large-sized eggs (7.4 ± 0.8 and 7.2 ± 0.4 %.d-1, respectively), however, was not significantly different (P>0.05). Results of these studies suggested that Nile tilapia seed production efficiency could be improved by using younger (six months old) rather than older (24 months old) females.
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