Revista Europea de Biología Experimental Acceso abierto

Abstracto

Optimum dosage for growth of dietary dehydroepiandrosterone in hybrid red tilapia fry Oreochromis niloticus Linn x Oreochromis mossambicus Linn

Asaad H. Mohamed, Rex Ferdinand M. Traifalgar and Augusto E. Serrano. Jr.

Effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on growth, survival and utilization efficiency of hybrid red tilapia Oreochromis niloticus x O. mossambicus were determined. Newly hatched larvae were fed with feeds containing four different concentrations OF DHEA: 0, 20, 40, 80 and 160 mg kg^-1 for 12 weeks. Optimum dosage of 106 mg kg^-1 was estimated using the quadratic model with weight gain as the response parameter. Larvae fed at 80 mg kg^-1 of DHEA showed higher growth rate than did those fed the diet with 17α-methyl testosterone. No significant differences in specific growth rate between the DHEA-treated and the negative and positive control groups were observed. However, significant differences among the treatment groups were observed in survival rate and weight gain. These findings suggested that DHEA could be used effectively as growth-promoting agent for the hybrid red tilapia for 12 weeks.