BIOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INNOVATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT, GROWTH AND EMPOWERMENT OF NIGERIANS

ILE-IFE, Nigeria

An Overview Of Our Solution

It is our goal to contribute to fish production for cheap supply of fish protein thus also saving foreign currency reserves as billions are being spent on frozen fish importation. With the ultimate objective of contributing to fish self-sufficiency in Nigeria and conserve valuable male catfish genetic resources, this cryopreservation research and development project that has been on-going since 2005 has commercialized and scaled-up catfish sperm cryopreservation by introducing to farmers in two states in Osun and Oyo States of Nigeria catfish cryopreserved sperm in cryotubes for induced spawning instead of the usual slaughtering of male fish broodstock to eviscerate the mature testes. Alongside with this novel catfish hatchery technology, post-harvest processing, health and production and breeding management practices were introduced to subsistence farmers.

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Rural

Organization type

À but non lucratif

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Oceans/Coasts

Population impacted

10,000,000

Size of agricultural area

1,000 m2

Production quantity

500,000 fingerlings

People employed

Describe your solution

The production of fish in Nigeria is still very small and cannot sufficiently satisfy the increasing demand of its population of 140 million. To solve the populace’s high demand for fish, Nigerians resort to aquaculture which is currently faced with major constraints including lack of fish seed and quality of feed. The first two years of the NACGRAB- OAU Department of Animal Sciences cryopreservation project (2005-2007) were dedicated to optimization of cryopreservation protocols of the catfish sperm under short-term condition in deep freezer at -10 to -30°C (Oyeleye and Omitogun, 2007) and testing the viability of cryopreserved sperm by studying the ability of these cryopreserved sperm in fertilizing freshly spawned eggs (Omitogun et al., 2006). The second phase of the project (2008-2010) was dedicated to cryopreservation of the catfish sperm under long term conditions in liquid Nitrogen (-2900C) and testing the motility and ability to fertilize eggs

Describe your implementation

Our hypothesis was that if cryopreseved sperm is practically tested on commercial scale and is proven economically feasible, being a true reflection of what was obtained in the laboratory (Omitogun, 2007) then in the long term this will help to conserve male broodstock (Omitogun, 2010) which are normally slaughtered for fry production of catfish; and likewise for the short term, ensure all-year round supply of viable sperm cells for artificial propagation, helping the fish farmers in overcoming the problem of scarcity and consequent high cost of male catfish breeders which are often encountered in the dry season.Recently aquaculture sector is faced with several challenges such as low productivity, low diversification of species, high competition in the market and environmental impacts that have resulted from the intensification and global development of aquaculture industry. It has been shown that cryopreservation can help in the economic utilization of males (Akcay et al., 2004) as the milt collected from one male can be effectively used for the fertilization of higher quantum more number of eggs as the fertilization is in vitro and the chances for fertilization is more with less volume of milt. The catfish is very important to the sustainability of the aquaculture industry in Nigeria, the blending of high survival rate and fast growth rate into the hybrid “Heteroclarias or Clariobranchus” offers higher production prospects.

External connections

Our partners for this solution to catfish dwindling population are the National centre for genetic resources and Biotechnology who provided the initial fund to conduct the research in the laboratory of the the founder of BRIDGE. The project was a success with NACGRAB management providing the grant to construct a wet fisheries laboratory at the basement of Faculty of Agriculture. With this grant plastic tanks for holding catfish broodstock were purchased together with chemicals, reagents and consumables for the cryopreservation experiments. NACGRAB funded the work and even supported the salaries of five undergraduate and 1 postgraduate student who worked under the project. A book chapter was written by BRIDGE founder in INTECH book that paved the way for other grants that supported the project like the government Tertiary Education Fund (formerly STEP-B) that enabled the construction of several water tanks at the roof top and ground floor of the Faculty building and purchase of more hatching tanks for growth performance of fish fry resulting from cryopreserved sperm. Several books were purchased from INTECH with support from National Biotechnology Development Agency which strongly believed in the potential of the project to contribute to fish production and fish resource conservation. Water recirculating system with disinfection UV facilities were installed enabling recycling of water. The grant also enabled collection of Clariid broodstock from many hatcheries.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Due to increased catfish aquaculture industry in Nigeria farmers are resorting to artificial induced spawning of African catfish. The cost of broodstock fish male and female ranges from 5000 to 10,000 naira (1$=400 naira) which is increasing every month. With this development, catfish male breeders are slaughtered by commercial and smallholder fish farmers. There is still abundant supply of fresh Clarias gariepinus but the other species Heterobranchus which is originally found and reared in Northern lakes and river systems and commercial hatcheries are getting very scarce in South West Nigeria where concentration of commercial and small holder fishponds proliferate. This need enabled us to develop a technology where male catfish sperm is cryopreserved and stored in refrigerator. As at now Heterobranchus is getting scarce and the only supply available is from the wild mostly from Kainji Dam in New Bussa and other northern lakes.

Describe the context in which you are operating

No response.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

Cryopreservation will conserve good fish genetic resources as millions of male fish are slaughtered for the induced spawning of female catfish. Clariid fish especially the delicate Hetrobranchus is gradually disappearing due to demand for fast growing Heteroclarias hybrids. Cryopreserved sperm will stop this practice and if given government and policy support, infrastructure can be developed to provide liquid Nitrogen in strategic places where aquaculture abounds. Like bull semen, fish semen can be available year round without killing so many male fish to meet the demand for sperm for the growing aquaculture industry. Most importantly good genetic resources can be conserved and perpetuated by cryopreservation thus preserving Clariid biodiversity. Africa is the centre of biodiversity of many tropical fish and concerted efforts by African governments would drastically save many threatened species from extinction while providing much needed and cheaper protein source by the population.

Language(s)

English

Water

The utilization of water is thus maximized to produce the fish after a growing cycle of 4 to 8 months. Aquaculturists normally source use natural water from the aquifer or other natural sources and because catfish is a hardy fish growing even in high stocking densities and poor water quality, water is conserved and utilized to the maximum for fish production. A smart farmer would find use to the water after harvest by using it for crops and other purposes.

Food Security/Nutrition

When small holder farmers have better incomes from fish produced from his ponds, the economic status of his family would also improve. He can now provide better nutrition and education to his wife and children. Thus with better nutrition, the family is healthier to combat many tropical diseases as malaria, tuberculosis, schistosomiasis, etc. thriving in wet, humid, or dry climatic conditions.

Economic/Sustainable Development

There is no limit to the multiplier effects of benefits of better incomes of an ordinary fish farmer. Nigeria is heavily dependent on frozen fish importation to cope with the demand for fish. Catfish aquaculture in Nigeria is limited by availability of fish seed, hence BRIDGE will use and popularize a simple biotechnology tool to sustain the availability of fish seed year round.

Climate

Climate is the ultimate beneficiary because fish production is healthy compared to ruminant production where methane or greenhouse gases are emitted. Non-ruminants releasing phosphorus pollute the environment. Fish produce good quality protein in small area and volume of water without much deleterious effects to climate, not to mention how fish can make soils fertile with its nitrogenous and metabolic wastes in pond bottoms. Water where fish live is also fertile thus adding value to the water

Sustainability

The first 2 phases of the solution depended ib grant funding and government subsidies. Several farms in Ile-Ife and Ibadan have already scaled up BRIDGE initial laboratory findings. We have tested the viabllity in these commercial farms. Now we are thinking of commercializing it to enable us sell a tube of cryopreserved sperm to farmers at 100-200 N/tube. We'd still need government subsidy because liquid nitrogen plants are available in universities. Partnerships with NACGRAB (National Centre for Genetic Resources and Biotechnology) and Technology Incubation Centre of the Ministry of Science and Technology were secured to avail of their genebanks and grow out ponds for liquid nitrogen storage of cryopreserved spermatoozoons in cryovials

Return on investment

The selling price for GF is expected to be reduced irrespective of its total cost because of lower viability rate of semen cryopreseved with it. Profit per vial was also calculated which is highest for GP at N100/vial and lowest for GF at N95/vial. The selling price ranges from N95.00 – N100.00 which would encourage the buyers to buy it affordably with reasonable revenue for sustaining the production of cryopreserved sperm cells by the institute (cryobank). However, the total cost of GP and GF are lower because of the lower cost price of glycerol, but GF gave the least total cost because of a slight difference in the type and amount of chemical used.

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How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

This was first tested in ile-ife in commercial hatchery close to the university for scaling up (gureye farmS) and it was successful being able to produce fingerlings from cryopreserved sperm of about 3-8 months. it was further tested in ibadan (praiz agroproject, ilori farms and vemac aquaculture centres). The farmers of these farms were former students in the university where they learn aquaculture, breeding, water quality and broodstock management. They are also members of bridge-nigeria who believe that biotechnology research innovations should be able to benefit the poorest of the poor farmers. it is hoped that bridge can have its own production farm in a land owned by its founder in ibadan that can now sell the issues of these cryopreserved sperm all over southwest nigeria, eastern, central and northern nigeria. cryopreserved sperm in cryovials can be shipped in inexpensive food flasks to other parts of nigeria thus preventing transport of big broodstock in water. F

Overview