Cucun Herlina, Muhammad Fadhil Syukri Bin Ismail, Jefri Anjaini, Mohamad Fadjar, Qurrota A’yunin, Rizky Fadilla Agustin Rangkuti
Catfish (C. gariepinus) seed production in hatcheries is often constrained by the strong adhesiveness of eggs, which promotes clumping, reduces oxygen diffusion, and lowers fertilization and hatching success. This study evaluates the effect of different egg-coating media on egg adhesiveness, fertilization rate (FR), hatching rate (HR), and embryonic development of African catfish eggs. A completely randomized design with six treatments and three replicates was applied: control (no coating), mud (200 g/L), wheat flour (14 g/L), skim milk powder (14 g/L), ketapang leaf solution (300 g/L), and green tea solution (6 g/L). Broodfish were induced with Ovaprim; eggs were stripped, coated according to treatment, and incubated under controlled temperature (~24 °C) and pH (~7.6). Data on egg adhesiveness, FR, HR, and developmental stages were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s test (α = 0.05). Mud and wheat flour significantly increased FR relative to the control, in line with a higher proportion of non-adhesive eggs, indicating that physical reduction of stickiness improves fertilization efficiency. All coating media markedly reduced adhesiveness, with skim milk and wheat flour producing the highest percentages of non-adhesive eggs. HR was significantly higher in skim milk, ketapang leaf, and green tea treatments than in the control, with ketapang leaf yielding the highest HR and skim milk providing the fastest hatching time without altering the normal sequence of embryogenesis. These results suggest that skim milk and ketapang leaf solution are promising primary coating media for catfish egg hatching protocols, while green tea solution may serve as a complementary phytobiotic coating in hatcheries. © 2025, Egyptian Society for the Development of Fisheries and Human Health. All rights reserved.
Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science, University of Brawijaya, Indonesia; Faculty of Agriculture, University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia; Department of Fisheries, Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science, University of Jenderal Soedirman, Indonesia
