Preliminary assessment of sex inversion of farmed Atlantic salmon by dietary and immersion androgen treatments.

Dietary and immersion treatments with the androgens 17a-methyltestosterone (MT) and 17a-methyldihydrotestosterone (MDHT) were assessed for their efficacy in the masculinization of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. Dietary treatments with MT at 1 or 3 mg/kg food or MDHT at 1 mg/kg food for 800 degree-days...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:North American Journal of Aquaculture
Main Authors: Lee, Peter, King, Harry, Pankhurst, Ned
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: American Fisheries Society 2004
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10072/22677
https://doi.org/10.1577/A03-015
Description
Summary:Dietary and immersion treatments with the androgens 17a-methyltestosterone (MT) and 17a-methyldihydrotestosterone (MDHT) were assessed for their efficacy in the masculinization of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. Dietary treatments with MT at 1 or 3 mg/kg food or MDHT at 1 mg/kg food for 800 degree-days resulted in 100% masculinization of all female stocks. Single or double immersion treatments of alevins in MDHT at 400 姯L for 120 min during the period 0-28 d after median hatch resulted in significant masculinization. Immersion treatments were most effective when conducted more than 14 d after median hatch. Two immersion treatments 7 or 14 d apart resulted in masculinization levels of up to 100%, whereas single immersions yielded levels up to 77%. Immersion treatment resulted in the production of significantly more sex-inverted males with patent sperm ducts than did dietary treatment. The study shows that immersion treatments are simple and effective for androgen-induced masculinization of Atlantic salmon, that they are suitable for commercial-scale use in hatcheries, and that they offer advantages in production efficiency over dietary treatments. Full Text