Larviculture of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in biofloc and clear water systems: masculinization with 17 α-methyltestosterone

Abstract

We evaluated the use of the hormone 17α-methyltestosterone during the larviculture of Nile tilapia in biofloc and clear water systems. A completely randomized experimental design was adopted with four treatments and four replications: biofloc system without dietary hormone incorporation (BFT-D); biofloc system with dietary hormone incorporation (BFT-H); clear water without hormone incorporation in the diet (CLW-D); and clear water with hormone incorporation in the diet (CLW-H). The 28-day larviculture of Nile tilapia was carried out using 16 tanks with capacity of 15 L. The evaluations included water parameters, growth, survival, and gonad histology. The biofloc system displayed higher values for alkalinity, total suspended solids, settling solids, and turbidity compared to the clear water system (p <0.05). Nevertheless, no difference (p > 0.05) was observed for in final weight, weight gain, feed conversion factor, survival, and growth rate between treatments. Then, tilapia post-larvae can be successfully reared in both biofloc and clear water systems without any negative impact on their zootechnical performance. Nonetheless, such results showed that tilapia can be reared in alternative systems, which can increase the production of this species.