EVALUATION OF NEOMALE Rhamdia quelen PROGENY GROWING AT VARIOUS STOCKING DENSITIES

Abstract

Monosex female jundiá (Rhamdia quelen) generated through indirect sex reversal may have their growth influenced by the stocking density, which is an important factor for production in fish farming. Since zootechnical data from R. quelen offspring generated by crossbreeding between genotypic masculinized females (neomales) and normal females were never reported, the objective of this study was to compare the zootechnical indexes of neomale and normal male offspring stocked at densities of 500, 1,000 and 1,500 fish m^-3 (D1, D2, and D3) for 61 days. The initial mean weight and length of the neomale and normal male offspring were 0.90 ± 0.12 g / 4.94 ± 0.22 cm and 0.80 ± 0.12 g / 4.60 ± 0.37 cm, respectively. A completely randomized experimental design with three replicates was used, with fish stocked in 0.07 m³ tanks. At the end of the experimental period, the data evaluated showed that there were no significant differences between progeny or among stocking densities in terms of survival, weight, weight gain, length, feed conversion or feed consumption. Therefore, neomale offspring presented adequate productive performance during the juvenile stage and tolerated increases in stocking density without performance loss, making the neomales suitable for R. quelen cultivation.