Funda TURAN
Abstract
In this study, effects of androstenedione on sex reversal and gonadal develoment of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) were firstly investigated. Androstenedione is a natural steroid hormone and occurs naturally in pollen from certain pine trees. The different concentrations of natural (0, 25, 50 ve 75 mg/L ) hormone were applied by immersion method on two days old C. gariepinus larvae with average initial weights of 2.80±0.07 mg for one month and effects of hormone on sex reversal and gonadal development were also studied at the end of 120 days. At the end of experiment, all dosage groups at androstenedione treatment were similar, which were not significantly different from the control (P>0.05). The highest sex reversal (58%) was observed at 50 mg\l androstenedione group. In addition, mean growth rate, gonad weight and gonadosomatic index values of androstenedione treatments were compared from the control group with t-test and found no significant differences (P