Macroscopical and microscopical analysys of the sterilized or masculinized Oncorhynchus mykiss gonads, by 17 a-methyltestosterone

Abstract

Rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, specimens were submitted to 6 different treatments with 17α-methyltestosterone (MT), either by dilution in immersion bath and/or added to the diet during the early stages of development in order to induce the reproductive sterility. During the reproductive season (winter) two years old animals were collected, their weight and size measured and their gonadal stage analyzed in order to obtain the rates of occurrence of normal, sterilized and sex reverted specimens. The treatments with MT diluted in immersion baths were more efficacious than those with hormone added in diet only, and the mixed treatments (immersion baths and diet) were more efficient than immersion baths only. The effects of the MT, even though at a lower rate than that found in other papers, were similar in the macroscopical and histological aspects of the gonads. No dose-related mortality during the treatments was observed.