Abstract
Low-oxygen tolerance is important for aquaculture species, because exposure to hypoxia can result in heavy mortalities. This study evaluated the effects of strain, body weight, and gender on low-oxygen tolerance in channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) exposed to a lethal concentration of dissolved oxygen (0.1 mg/L). The variation in low-oxygen tolerance, assessed as the time to loss of equilibrium, of channel catfish from six strains (103KS, Kansas, KMix, Marion, Marion S, and Thompson) was examined. Catfish (15–179 g) showed a large variation in resistant time to hypoxia, ranging from 8 to 104 min, and both strain and body weight contributed significantly to this variation (P < 0.05). 103KS and Marion S strains had higher low-oxygen tolerance than the other strains, while the Marion strain had the poorest low-oxygen tolerance (P < 0.05). In addition to genetic background, body weight positively correlated with low-oxygen tolerance, but there were no significant differences between female and male catfish in low-oxygen tolerance. The results indicate that genetic background and body weight are important factors that contribute variations in low-oxygen tolerance.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (grant number 2014-70007-22395). The authors thank Dr. Ash Abebe for precious advice with statistical analysis. Thanks are given to C. Jiang, T. Zhou, N. Li, and H. Li for their help with fish culture and hypoxia challenge.
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All procedures involving the handling and treatment of fish in this study were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) at Auburn University.
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Wang, X., Liu, S., Dunham, R. et al. Effects of strain and body weight on low-oxygen tolerance of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). Aquacult Int 25, 1645–1652 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-017-0125-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10499-017-0125-2