Open AccessEfficacy of Trenbolone Acetate in Sex Inversion of the Blue Tilapia Oreochromis aureus
Author(s) -
Galvez John I.,
Morrison John R.,
Phelps Ronald P
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
journal of the world aquaculture society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1749-7345
pISSN - 0893-8849
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-7345.1996.tb00633.x
Subject(s) - tilapia , methyltestosterone , biology , oreochromis , zoology , hormone , medicine , endocrinology , fish <actinopterygii> , fishery
.— Trenbolone acetate (TBA) is a synthetic anabolic androgenic steroid approved in the United States as a growth promoter for beef cattle. Pooled populations of blue tilapia Oreochromis aureus with more than 98% males were produced by feeding diets containing TBA. This hormone effectively inversed the sex of blue tilapia when doses of 25–100 mg/kg of diet were fed for 28 d. Fish treated with 60 mg of 17‐alpha‐methyltestosterone (MT)/kg of feed resulted in 88.7% males. The percentage of male tilapia masculinized with TBA was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than with MT. Intersex fish were found in both control and hormone‐treated groups, and were significantly more common (P < 0.05) in the MT‐treated batches. Survival, feed conversion ratio, and average weight of O. aureus fry fed diets containing either TBA, MT or no hormone were not different (P > 0.05) at the end of the 28‐d treatment period.