The channel x blue hybrid catfish has been documented as a superior animal for use by the catfish industry. To produce the hybrid a hormnone is used to help ovulate the eggs so they can be stripped from the female. Once the eggs are stripped from the female they are fertilized with sperm from the blue catfish and hatched in a manner sililar to channel catfish eggs. Carp pituitary has been used successfully for many years as a spawning aid for catfish. It is very expensive and is produced by a company that depends on commercial fishing to provide the carp. Some years there is a good suppy and other years it is in short supply. Under limited testing, catfish pituitary has been proven to be as effective as Carp pituitary. This project will attemp to optimize the use of this product. Utilizing the catfish pituitary will also provide additional income for the processing plant. OBJECTIVES: 1.Determine the effect of head/visera selection criteria and season of collection on the efficacy of channel catfish pituitary. July 09 2.Optimize pituitary drying techniques, maximizing the effectiveness of the gonadotropins while minimizing the economic cost and handling times. July 09 3.Compare the consistency and efficacy of channel catfish pituitary and carp pituitary for the artificial propagation of aquaculture species. July 09 4.Improve the production of channel x blue catfish hybrids through the use of pituitary extracts administered through a slow-release vehicle. September 09 The expected outputs are to provide a spawning aid for use in Aquaculture and additional income for the processing plants. APPROACH: Channel catfish pituitary will be collected at the processing plants at differend times of the year. The average size of the heads used in the pituitary collection will be documented by batch. The product will be dried using several tecniques. During the spawing season the efficacy of the product will be tested by documenting the percent of the females injected that produce viable eggs and the number of fry produced from these eggs. The product will be compared to carp pituitary which has been used as a spawning aid in aquaculture for many years
