Abstract
Studies on the phenotypic characterization of F1 progenies of Clarias galmaensis produced through hybridization and genomic DNA from Heterobranchus bidorsalis using sperm mediated gene transfer technique was carried out with the aim of determining the morphometric and meristic characters of the F1 progenies. Twenty one each of male and female Clarias galmeansis and three each of male and female Heterobranchus bidorsalis were used for the experiment. Female broodstock were induced with ovaprim and kept for latency period, after latency period, eggs from the females and testes from each male in each of the treatment were collected and weighed. Gonadosomatic index and fecundity rate were estimated. One gram (1g) of egg were collected from each fish and fertilized with 1mil of milt collected from the male broodstock. Treatment 1 to 5 involved introduction of genomic DNA of Heterobranchus bidorsalis to the milts at the concentrations of 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40μl before the fertilization while treatment 6 to 8 involved the use of hybridization between Clarias galmaensis and Heterobranchus bidorsalis. After fertilization, the eggs were incubated and reared for 30 days indoors. Thirty (30) fingerlings were collected in each treatment and reared for another 120 days outdoors for growth performance. After the growth performance, Three (3) samples were collected randomly for phenotypic examination. Data obtained from the phenotypic examination were subjected to analysis of Variance ANOVA. The results shows that the morphometric were mostly higher in treatment with crossing combination of ♀ Female Clarias galmaensis x ♂Male Clarias galmaensi s (♀Cg x ♂Cg) with 30μl of the genomic DNA. The meristic counts remain the same in all the crossing combination of ♀ Female Clarias galmaensis x ♂Male Clarias galmaensi s (♀Cg x ♂Cg) with 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40μl of the genomic DNA and also with hybridization combination of ♀ Female Clarias galmaensis x ♂Male Clarias galmaensis (♀Cg x ♂Cg) with the absence of adipose tissue