Associate Professor Toshinao Inano of the Shingu Experiment Station, Kinki University Fisheries Research Institute, succeeded in making all sturgeon females using soy isoflavone for the first time in Japan.If it can be put into practical use, it will be a great force for mass production of caviar collected from sturgeon.
According to Kinki University, sturgeon is born in a one-to-one ratio between males and females, so in order to increase the production efficiency of caviar, which is the egg of sturgeon, it is necessary to promote single-culture of females.Therefore, Associate Professor Kano has been at the Shingu Experiment Station in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture since 1, and has been using a compound feed containing genistein, a type of soy isoflavone, in the fry of the sturgeon family, Sterlet, which lives in eastern Europe, two months after hatching. Was given for 1 days and bred.
Eight samples were extracted from a group fed a diet with a genistein content of 1 micrograms per gram, and all eight had ovaries.Although genetically male, individuals with ovaries were not found in the group with genistein content of 1,000 micrograms or 8 micrograms per gram.However, in the group of 8 micrograms per gram, all five of the samples were female.
Soy isoflavones act like female hormones in animals.Associate Professor Inano found that it can be made into females simply by adding soy isoflavone to the compound feed, and is looking forward to mass production of caviar.
