Evaluation of the Live-Attenuated Vaccine AquaVac-COL® on Hybrid Channel x Blue Catfish Fingerlings in Earthen Ponds

Abstract

The evaluation of the use of AquaVac-COL® was conducted with hybrid catfish, which are a cross between female channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) and a male blue catfish (Ictalurus furcatus), to determine production rates in field conditions. Fry were stocked at rates of 25,000 fry/ha in 0.1 ha earthern ponds and cultured for 172 d in one of two treatments. The treatments (n=4) were 10-day post-hatch fish sham-vaccinated and 10-day post-hatch fish vaccinated with AquaVac- COL® and then stocked in the ponds. Fingerling mean standing crop averaged 2,802 ± 268 kg/ha for sham- vaccinated and 2,676 ± 424 kg/ha for vaccinated treatments. No significant differences occurred between treatments. Mean individual fish weight at harvest averaged 16.8 ± 0.10 g for sham- vaccinated treatments and 21.1 ± 1.8 g for vaccinated treatments. No significant difference for mean individual fish weight was found between treatments. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) averaged 2.57 ± 0.18 for the sham- vaccinated treatment and 1.92 ± 0.38 for vaccinated treatments and were not significantly different between treatments. Mean percent survival for the sham- vaccinated treatment averaged 67.2% ± 7.2 while the vaccine treatment averaged 54.2% ± 12. Observed mortality for the sham- vaccinated treatments averaged 4.14% ± 1.2 while the vaccine treatment averaged 4.3% ± 4.0. The study determined no significant differences when considering the efficacy of AquaVac- COL® in respect to production parameters between ponds or between treatments.