Thesis supervisor: Balázs Kucska
Location of studies (in Hungarian): Agrár-és Környezettudományi Kar - Aquakultúra és Halgazdálkodási Intézeti Tanszék Abbreviation of location of studies: AKKAT
Description of the research topic:
African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is one of the most important freshwater fish worldwide. It has high importance in Africa and it has been introduced to Asia, Europe and South America. In Hungary behind of common carp African catfish is the second most important cultured species with approximately 4,000Mt annual production. The propagation and larvae rearing is well known, however there is still place for development. Male African catfish has to scarify to get sperm for propagation. To find the way how to get good quality sperm without surgery or killing the fish has several advantages (use male several times in breeding programs, animal welfare etc.). For larvae rearing live food is obligatory. Pond rearing of larvae has high risk and can be applied in tropical conditions only, while application of live feed (i.e. brine shrimp Nauplius) in closed system increases the production costs. Use of exogenous enzymes, probiotics, and special micro diets may help to reduce the cost and increase the productivity. To develop a simplified and cheap method for propagation and larvae rearing could be important to spread production technology of African catfish to developing regions.
The main task of the PhD candidate would be to:
• Study of the possibility of gamete collection at spawning
• Development sperm stripping method without killing or damaging the fish
• Testing different classical and newly developed methods for propagation
• Development of larvae raring with special focus on weaning period
Required language skills: angol Number of students who can be accepted: 1