The propagation of marine and cultured broodstocks of Fenneropenaeus indicus were compared in 2003 in the center for training and stock enhancement in Kolahi port south of Iran. We used a factorial design to assess relative fecundity, percent of fertilization and hatching, number of nauplii, time of hatch, growth and survival rate in zoae, mysis, and PL. We also measured total weight and length of PL12. In this investigation 30 marine and 30 cultured broodstocks in their second stage of maturation were used in three replications, each including 10 marine and 10 cultured broodstocks. Induction of maturation was performed by ablation of eye stalk. After one week, 3 marine and 3 cultured broodstocks which were in their fourth stage of maturation were selected from each replication and were transferred to the spawning tanks. The offspring of each broodstock was reared separately till PL12 and the mentioned parameters were measured for each broodstock. Dunkan's mean test showed that the marine broodstocks produced napplii more than the cultured broodstocks and the weight of the post, larvae produced. By marine broodstocks was more than that of the cultured broodstocks (P<0.05). However, cultured broodstocks had higher relative fecundity and growth rate in mysis and PL than marine broodstocks (P<0.05). The marine broodstocks were better than cultured broodstocks for some of the quantitative parameters, but there was no significant difference between the stocks in terms of the qualitative parameters.

Every year, common carp, Cyprinus carpio, fingerlings are released into the northern rivers of Iran to for restocking the Caspian Sea reserves. For artificial reproduction of this fish, hormone injection is inevitable and despite the differences between wild and farmed common carp, the same method is used to induce their sexual maturation in Shahid Rajaei Center in Sari. Therefore, to compare the efficiency of hormone injection in wild and farmed carp, 12 female broodstocks which caught from the Caspian Sea, and 15 farmed broodstocks were injected based on the applied methods of Shahid Rajaei Center in Sari, each in 3 treatments as follows: Two-stage injection of common carp pituitary gland extract at the rate of 4.5 mg per kg of body weight (control), and one- and two-stage injections of sGnRH + domperidone (ovaprim) at a rate of 0.4 ml per kg of weight as the second and third experimental treatments. All 27 wild and farmed female broodstocks responded to hormone injection. The extracted egg weight and working fecundity were significantly higher in farmed broodstocks and the number of eggs per gram and relative fecundity were significantly higher in wild broodstocks (p < /em><0.05). Fertilization, eyeing, and hatching percentages were significantly higher in ovaprim treatments than the pituitary treatment in both farmed (93.20±1.12, 94.36±0.46, 91.87±1.93) and wild (95.51±1.42, 94.90± 0.01, 92.43±0.15) broodstocks (p < /em><0.05). A positive correlation was observed between broodstocks weight, extracted egg weight, and working fecundity with each other in both broodstock groups. However, all three parameters were negatively correlated with the number of eggs per gram and the weight of the broodstocks and the weight of the extracted egg were negatively correlated with the relative fecundity. Also, the percentages of fertilization, eyeing, and hatching rates showed a highly significant positive correlation with each other (p < /em><0.01). In the study of relationships between variables by stepwise regression, no significant relationship was observed between the fertilization, eyeing, and hatching percentages with the weight of broodstocks and the weight of the extracted egg, but in both groups of broodstocks, the quality of eggs had a positive and significant relationship especially with the single-stage injection of ovaprim compared to the pituitary gland. Therefore, the single-stage injection of ovaprim is more suitable for both farmed and wild common carp. Although extracted egg weight and working fecundity were lower in wild than farmed broodstocks due to lower weight of them, hatching percentage in wild broodstocks was higher than farmed broodstocks with a coefficient of 2.18.

This study was carried out to determine artificial breeding normatives of Russian Sturgeon (Acipenser gueldenstaedti). In this research, which was conducted in Shahid Marjani Breeding Center in late winter, 27 female and 13 male broodstocks were used. All broodstocks were provided from Turkeman and Mianghaleh fishing ground in the Caspian Sea. After maintaining them at Kurinski ponds and determination of germinal vesicle in the oocytes, 15 female and 13 male broodstocks were injected by 60-75 and 40-55 mg of pituitary hormone, respectively. After maturity duration, 10 female and 5 male broodstocks showed response to the hormone injection. Some parameters such as maturity duration, number of oocytes per gram, oocyte diameter, weight and bodymass of oocyte, motility and density of spermatozoid, duration of reaching to 4 and 16 divisions, incubation duration, fertilization percentage in each stage, mortality rate during incubation, number of larvae resulted from each broodstock, number of larvae per gram, weight of each larvae as well as some morphometric parameteres and age for each broodstock were determined.

In this study, the effect of feeding with different sources of zinc supplements on reproductive indices of male rainbow trout was investigated. Feeding treatments for 16 weeks of research period included: (1) male broodstock fed with diet containing 40mg/kg of inorganic zinc, (2) male broodstock fed with diet containing 40mg/kg of zinc nanoparticles, (3) male broodstock fed with diet containing 40mg/kg of organic zinc and (4) male broodstock fed with zinc-free diet (control). Breeding and fertilization were performed for different treatments using the control of female oocytes. The highest percentage of fertilization eyed eggs and hatched eggs were observed in rainbow trout broodstock fed with diet containing 40mg/kg of inorganic zinc. Sperm concentration, volume, and motility duration, as well as hematocrit percentage, were higher in all treatments supplemented with zinc compared to control. Offspring survival up to 1g of weight was significantly higher in fish fed with diet containing inorganic zinc than other treatments (P<0.05). The results of this study showed that zinc supplements would play an important role in improving the capability and functional performance of male rainbow trout.

During this study, frozen, lipid-enriched adult Artemia were fed to Litopenaeus vannamei broodstock to investigate the suitability of Artemia as maturation diet for the species and elucidate the role of essential fatty acids in the reproductive performance of the shrimp. Four lipid enrichment levels: PUFA (P group), MUFA (M group), HUFA (H1 and H2 groups), un-enriched (NE group), No-Artemia fed (NA group), were fed to L. vannamei over 45 days. Significant differences in weight gain and specific growth rate were observed. Greatest mean SGR was recorded for shrimp of diet P-group as well as greatest mean final weight on day 45, while the lowest mean SGR was found for shrimp fed Diet NA. The fecundity of the broodstock shrimp fed diets either H1, H2 increased compared with diet NA (P<0.05). Changes in gonado-somatic index (GSI) of broodstock during ovarian maturation was very pronounced, but hepato-somatic index (HSI) changes was no significant differences between the broodstock groups (P>0.05). According to the results, Artemia biomass enriched with oils containing high levels of PUFA can improve growth and HUFA can improve in reproductive efficiency in white shrimp broodstock.

The present study was conducted with the aim of comparing the morphological and reproductive indices of spring and autumn migratory Mahi sefid populations to Anzali lagoon. Therefore, 120 spring and autumn migratory Mahi sefid were caught at a station leading to Anzali lagoon. The results of the comparison of morphological characteristics showed that these characteristics were significantly higher in autumn broodstocks than spring broodstocks. Based on the analyzing into main factors, total length, fork length, standard length and body weight traits expressed 73.33% of the diversity of morphological characteristics between spring and autumn populations. Comparison of reproductive characteristics did not show any significant difference in absolute fecundity between spring and autumn populations (P>0.05). The average relative fecundity, number of eggs and sperm volume of the spring broodstocks were significantly higher than the autumn breed (P<0.05). The fertilization percentage after 24 and 48 hours in the autumn form were significantly higher than the spring form (P<0.05). Therefore, the broodstocks of the autumn form were higher in morphological characteristics and fertilization percentage, and the broodstocks of the spring form were higher in relative fecundity, number of eggs and sperm volume.

In this study the effects of LHRHa, a mixture or common carp and sturgeon pituitary (CCP +SPE), Thyroxin hormone (T3) with commonly method used in hatcheries were compared. The experiments were conducted using different doses of hormones with several replicates in order 10 determine the most effective dose. Total number of broodstocks were females and 22 males. Prior to injecting the fishes, the Germinal Vesicle (GV) situation of all broodstocks were determined. The results showed that bloodstocks has been injected with LHRHa were very satisfactory and the percentage of response, fertilization and hatching of them had significantly different. The least effective dose of LHRHa that induced maturation was single injection and 350-375µg/fish for double injection. Thus it was determined that under the experimental condition, 20. 0 to 31. 2 µg/Kg of body weight of broodstock was the most effective dose. In the case of male broodstocks LHRHa was the most effective hormone and the sperms collected from these broodstocks were better in quality and quantity.
The most effective dose of this hormone for males was determined to be 200 µg/fish or 27. 7 to 31. 2 µg/kg of body weight. The best dose of mixture of CCP + SPE which all broodstocks responded was7. 0mg/kgBW
+2. 5mg/kgBW for females and 7. 0mg/kgBW+ 1. 5mg/kgBW for males. In the case of broodstocks that were first injected thyroxin and latter injected SPE it must be stated that since the thyroxin used was edible grade none of the broodstocks attained maturity. Therefore the results obtained in this treatment were not satisfactory.

Availability of brood fish with high quality is one of the main aspects in sturgeon rehabilitation programs. The present study was conducted to compare different biological parameters and reproduction indices in 397 of Persian sturgeon broodstocks caught in the Sefidroud River and the Caspian Sea using beach seine and gillnets. A total of 74 Persian sturgeon broodstocks were caught in the Sefidroud River, and in the sea 199 spawners were collected using beach seine and 124 collected using gillnets. Results obtained showed that the minimum mean weight (26.5 ± 5.1 kg) recorded belonged to fish caught in beach seine whereas maximum mean weight (30.0 ± 4.0 kg) recorded belonged to fish caught in the river which were significantly different (P<0.05). No significant differences were detected in the weight of gonad from different groups of broodstocks (P>0.05). The highest polarization index (PI) (10.6 ± 2.6) in broodstocks belonged to the groups caught in beach seine and minimum PI values (6.6 ± 0.9) were observed in broodstocks caught in the river (P<0.05). Highest fertilization rate (92.2 ± 3.3 %) belonged to broodstocks caught in the river which was significantly higher than broodstocks collected from the sea (75.1 ± 4.8 %) (P<0.05). It is evident from the results obtained that higher values for reproduction indices were recorded in broodstocks caught in the river. Therefore, it is suggested that in order to improve artificial breeding programs in hatcheries and also to increase fertilization rate and survival rates of eggs and larvae, more attempts should be made to facilitate the migration of these spawners into the Sefidroud.

Penaeus vanamei is one of the most important penaeide shrimp species in Persian Gulf. This research was carried out to determine the genetic status of broodstocks of this species by sequencing the cytochrome oxidase I gene (COI). Sampling was performed from two hatcheries in hormozgan province (Kolahi and Tiab) and a hatchery in Bushehr province (Delvar). Seven haplotypes were identified from 502 aligned sequences. Phylogeny study showed that all specimens from the three studied hatcheries were in a main clade with two clusters showing highly Homosigisity of Bushehr and Hormozgan hatcheries. On the other hand, three haplotypes BU. A3, A4, A6 derived from Bushehr area were distinguished from the other haplotypes of Bushehr and Hormozgan regions, showing that the heterozygosity rate in the broodstocks of Bushehr area is much higher than Hormozgan area. The haplotypic status of the COI gene indicates high homozygosity levels among imported broodstocks in hormozgan that can lead to increase in the amount of blood coefficient between broodstocks and decrease in growth and survival rate among postlarves in near future.

The effect of four light intensities (0, 100, 2000 and 5000 lux) on some reproductive charachteristicsof Artemiaurmianabroodstocks was investigated. 30 male and female individuals were reared in 3 liter containers until the death of all females over the consecutive weeks. Results showed significant differences in terms of average weekly offspring productions among the treatments. The broodstocks cultured in 5000 lux had an increasing trend in offspring production from the first to the fifth week, but a decreasing trend from the sixth to the tenth week. A relatively similar situation was observed in the 2000 lux treatment. The broodstocks cultured in 0 and 100 lux intensities had reduction fluctuations in offspring production from the first to the sixth and seventh weeks, respectively. The highest percentages of egg-sac females were observed in the early and mid-raising weeks, showing the maximum in the mid-week (until the fifth week) in all treatments. In most weeks, a considerable increase was detected in the encysted embryos production in the broodstocks reared in 0 and 100 lux intensities as compared with 2000 and 5000 lux intensities. The survival percentage of broodstocks at the end of the fifth week was 95, 86, 23 and 30 % (in order from high to low levels of light intensities).Considering the increased production of offspring and higher survival rate in the broodstocks as well as the increase in egg-sacsfemales (during the first five weeks), it is recommended that the light intensity of 5000 lux is useful for the mass culture of A. urmianain hatchery reared broodstock.