Effects of Chronic Exposure to Sublethal pH on Growth, Egg Production, and Ovulation in Brook Trout, Salvelinus fontinalis

1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 275-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Tam ◽  
P. D. Payson

Hatchery-reared brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) were maintained in the laboratory at mean pH values of 7.34, 5.56, 5.16, and 4.48 from early February to early December. At pH 4.48, the mean growth rates of males were uniformly lowered during the entire experimental period. Among females, growth was inhibited during the first 5 mo, but their rate of weight gain recovered during the period of rapid oocyte development. At the end of the experiment, the body weights of both male and female fish in pH 5.16 and 4.48 were only 70.70–77.34% of the control fish at pH 7.34. Growth was not affected by exposure to pH 5.56. Rapid oocyte development occurred simultaneously over all pH groups in June, suggesting that the initiation of gametogenesis was not affected over the range of pH tested, the number of eggs produced was significantly correlated to body weight; consequently the number of eggs produced by the smaller pH 5.16–4.48 females was reduced. Ovulation was also significantly delayed in the acidic groups.

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2468-2476 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Tam ◽  
J. N. Fryer ◽  
B. Valentine ◽  
R. J. J. Roy

Maturing brook trout were exposed to pH 4.5 at the beginning of the rapid oocyte development phase in mid-June. The number of atretic follicles containing vitellogenic oocytes in acid-treated trout gradually increased with time, to exceed that of control fish on day 30, reaching a maximum (22–24% of all vitellogenic oocytes) between days 45 and 60 of acid exposure, before declining on day 73. Follicular atresia reduced the number of healthy vitellogenic oocytes in the acid-stressed fish to 59% of controls by day 60. Plasma vitellogenin and estrogen levels were not consistently affected by acid exposure. During the first 45 days of acid exposure, the mean weight of the healthy vitellogenic oocytes and the plasma levels of estrogen in the acid-exposed fish were at times significantly higher than those of control trout, but after day 45 these differences were no longer observed. Ultrastructural morphometry showed that secretory activity of the gonadotropes in the female acid-stressed brook trout was suppressed. Throughout the experimental period, the acid-exposed trout showed various symptoms characteristic of acid stress, such as elevated ACTH and cortisol secretion, hyperglycemia, acidosis, and hyponatremia. Food intake was reduced to 14% of the control value. These results suggest that the disruptive physiological changes and (or) reduced nutritional status associated with acid stress are responsible for the reduction in activity of the gonadotropes and oocyte atresia.


1957 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 75 ◽  
Author(s):  
PK Briggs ◽  
MC Franklin ◽  
GL McClymont

Dry adult Merino ewes were fed at daily or weekly intervals on oat grain at levels which provided 4.0, 3.0, or 2.0 lb starch equivalent (S.E.) per sheep per week. The experimental periods were 223, 223, and 181 days respectively. Differences between the mean body weights of the ewes a t the three levels of feeding were highly significant (P < 0.001). Body weight varied only slightly and no losses occurred in ewes fed weekly at the rate of 4.0 lb S.E. per head. Ewes fed daily a t this level had a significantly greater mean body weight (P < 0.001) a t the conclusion of the 223-day experimental period. The addition of a sodium chloride supplement did not improve the body weight or wool production of ewes fed weekly a t the level of 4.0 lb S.E. The mean body weight of ewes fed at the levels of 3.0 or 2.0 lb S.E. per head declined over the first 12 and 18 respectively and thereafter remained relatively constant. There were no significant differences at these levels of feeding between groups fed daily and weekly in respect of body weight, wool production, or survival rates. Ewes fed a t the level of 4.0 lb S.E. grew significantly more wool than those given 3.0 lb S.E. (P < 0.001). Losses were negligible in all groups except those fed a t the level of 2.0 lb S.E. In these groups there were few deaths in the first 16 weeks, but in the subsequent 10 weeks losses totalled 17.1 per cent. Ewes fed a t the level of 2.0 lb S.E. consumed their rations at a significantly slower rate (P < 0.01) than did those fed a t the level of 4.0 lb S.E.


1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (4) ◽  
pp. 587-593 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Tam ◽  
Xiaomin Zhang

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) were divided into a control group at neutral pH, a food-restricted control (Ph–food control) group at neutral pH, and an acid-stressed (pH 4.15) group, and were maintained under these conditions from August 14 to November 1. The food for the pH–food control group was restricted to simulate the reduced food intake of the acid-stressed fish. Throughout September, oocyte development in the acid-stressed fish was accelerated and the oocytes weighed 36–54% more than those of the pH control fish. By late September these oocytes had reached ovulatory size. Then a shift from predominantly high estrogen to high 17α,20β-dihydroxy-4-pregnen-3-one levels occurred in the circulation. Ovulation followed and by October 19 all acid-stressed trout had ovulated. The same sequence of events occurred significantly later in the pH control fish and ovulation was not complete on November 1. Although their oocytes were larger than those of pH control fish in September, hormonal changes and ovulation in pH–food control fish occurred at the same time as in pH control fish. The results suggest that while the reduced food intake during acid stress might have contributed to accelerated oocyte growth, the full effect of chronic acid exposure was responsible for advancing oocyte development, maturation, and ovulation.


1968 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 2643-2649 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. McDermott ◽  
A. H. Berst

Preliminary sampling revealed the presence of furunculosis disease in the resident brook trout population of the southern Ontario trout stream used in this study.Two plantings of marked yearling brook trout were made in the study area in 1966; one in the spring, and the other in the fall. The spring planting consisted of 1000 brook trout with a predetermined incidence of furunculosis infection and an equal number of trout with no evidence of infection. The fall planting consisted of 2000 brook trout with a known incidence of furunculosis infection.The stream was electrofished periodically during the 2-year period after the first planting. A total of 445 brook trout (140 of the planted hatchery stock, and 305 resident trout) and 127 fish of associated species were captured and examined for the presence of Aeromonas salmonicida, causative agent of furunculosis.Recovery rates of the "infected" and "noninfected" stocks of brook trout were similar, and there was no evidence of transmission of A. salmonicida from the infected fish to the control fish, nor the resident population of brook trout and other species of fish captured.


1986 ◽  
Vol 43 (10) ◽  
pp. 2048-2050 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Tam ◽  
P. D. Payson ◽  
R. J. J. Roy

Brook trout fry (Salvelinus fontinalis) were exposed to pH 4.66 for various durations up to 141 d and then returned to neutral water. Growth of test fish was in general significantly lower than that of control fish for exposures up to days 45–78. In four of six groups of acid-treated fish, growth eventually recovered and the growth rates were not different from that of control fish. The results suggested that growth inhibition was induced early in the exposure to sublethally low pH and that recovery in the latter phase of the experiment occurred whether pH remained acidic or was readjusted to neutral.


Parasitology ◽  
1941 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Haddow

1. Isolated unmated female body-lice were worn in pillboxes between the skin and the clothes. They were kept constantly on the body but, by a simple device, groups of ten were permitted feeding periods of different length. These groups were fed for 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 hr. per day respectively. Another group of ten were never allowed to feed after the last moult.2. Some of the figures for egg yield were high. Lice in the 24 hr. group were able to maintain a rate of ten eggs per day for 4−5 days at a time.3. No significant difference in longevity or rate of egg-laying was found to exist between the 12, 16, 20 and 24 hr. groups nor between the 4 and 8 hr. groups but a pronounced and significant difference exists between the 8 and 12 hr. groups. Below 12 hr. there is a sharp fall in longevity and rate of egg production. The unfed group all died, without laying, on the third day.4. The rate of laying as shown by the mode increases progressively with increase in time allowed daily for feeding.5. With regard to the mean eggs per louse the position is less clear. It is felt that the 24 hr. group may differ significantly from the 12, 16 and 20 hr. groups but this is uncertain.


Author(s):  
R.M. Waruiru ◽  
C.O. Onyando ◽  
R.O. Machuka

Between June 1999 and August 2000, the effects of feeding medicated urea-molasses supplement blocks on the growth of dairy heifers in a marginal area of central Kenya were assessed by comparing the live-weight gain of supplemented and unsupplemented heifers grazing the same pasture. Thirty-nine heifers with an average age of 9.6 months were initially treated orally with albendazole (10 mg / kg body weight) and assigned to 3 groups : group I was fed urea-molasses blocks with incorporated fenbendazole (MUMB), group II was fed urea-molasses blocks (UMB) and group III heifers (control) received no block supplementation (NBS). Body weights of the heifers and faecal egg counts (FECs) were measured monthly and larval cultures were made of positive faecal samples of each group. The mean cumulative live-weight responses of the MUMB and UMB groups were significantly greater than the NBS group (P < 0.05). However, at the end of the experimental period, the mean weight gain of the MUMB group did not differ from that of the UMB group (P >0.05). The FECs were moderate to low in all groups and decreased progressively with increasing age of the animals; FECs for the urea-molasses-supplemented groups remained significantly lower than those of the NBS group throughout the experimental period (P <0.05). Haemonchus and Trichostrongylus were the predominant nematode genera found in the heifers, but Cooperia, Bunostomum and Oesophagostomum were also present. These results indicate that feeding of urea-molasses blocks substantially reduced production losses attributable to nematode infection of young grazing cattle, and confirms previous observations that well-fed animals are better able to overcome the effects of helminth infections.


1913 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 110-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sutherland Simpson

SummaryMonthly observations, extending over one year, were made on the rectal temperature of 114 domestic fowls (Gallus gallus, ♀) and records from forty-one of these were obtained for two years. Six different breeds were used, each located in a separate pen, all under similar conditions, and the mean temperatures for each group were plotted out to form an annual temperature curve. It was found that—1. The lowest temperatures occur in December, January, and February, and the highest in June, July, and August, corresponding in a general way with the temperature of the external air.2. Barometric pressure does not appear to have any influence on the body temperature of the hen.3. The curve of egg-production does not coincide with the annual temperature curve, the former reaching its highest level in April and May, the latter in June, July, and August.If we compare the mean rectal temperature at two periods of the year when the external or weather conditions are approximately the same (April-May and September-October), but when the vitality of the birds, as indicated by the curve of egg-production, moulting, etc., is at a maximum and minimum respectively, we find that the figures are practically identical. This would seem to show that cyclical bodily changes have little effect on body temperature as compared with outside influences.


1976 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 118-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Menendez

During an 11-mo period all developmental stages of the brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) were continuously exposed to pH levels of 4.5, 5.0, 5.5, 6.0, 6.5, and the control 7.1. The number of viable eggs was reduced significantly at pH 5.0 and to a lesser extent at the higher pH levels. Embryo hatchability was significantly less at all pH levels below 6.5. Growth and survival of alevins was reduced at the lower pH levels. These data indicate that continual exposure to pH values below 6.5 will result in significant reductions in egg hatchability and growth.


2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (12) ◽  
pp. 2675-2686 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan M Utz ◽  
Kyle J Hartman

Stream-dwelling salmonids in eastern North America are often restricted to headwater watersheds, where productivity is low and thus feeding conditions are poor. We sought to quantify how energy intake varies with spatial and temporal variation by monitoring feeding rates in multiple sites over the course of two years. Daily rations were calculated for 939 fish by examining stomach contents. Maintenance rations were compared with daily rations using a bioenergetics model. Consumption peaked in spring, dropped substantially in summer, and remained low until the following spring. A minority of fish fed at very high levels during all seasons, elevating the mean consumption of the population. Fish occupying large sites with low trout densities consistently consumed more energy than fish in smaller streams with high trout densities. A direct relationship between trout density and mean consumption was observed during summer, when feeding conditions were poorest. Our findings suggest that within a headwater watershed, larger reaches of streams where fewer trout are found act as important feeding areas and thus may be important habitat for brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis).


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