Use of Pawpaw (Carica papaya) Seed in Tilapia Sex Reversal

Abstract

Tilapia breeds effortlessly in captivity, with this attribute which is considered as the “Achilles heel” of the species, because it predisposes pond systems to overcrowding and low weight at harvest. Efforts to mitigate this shortcoming include mono-sex culture using exogenous hormone to reverse the sex of sexually undifferentiated fish. This is premised on the fact that improvement in the growth by mono-sex culture will lead to shortened production times and a more uniform weight at harvest, which will ultimately benefit the producers. However, the use of exogenous hormones in aquaculture has recently raised concerns about the effect on farm workers, consumers and on the environment. Recently research has focused on the use of substances of plants origin which mimic the action of hormones as a potential approach to achieve sex reversal in fish. Pawpaw (Carica papaya) seed contains phytochemicals that hold great promise as a sex reversal and a reproductive inhibition agent in aquaculture. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the relevant literature on the possibility of using a less harmful phytochemicals abundant in the plant to effect sex reversal of sexually undifferentiated tilapia.