JOURNAL OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY Vol. 41, No. 4 August, 2010 Relative Production Performance and Cost of Food Fish Production from Fingerlings of Channel-Blue F 1 Hybrids, Ictalurus punctatus – Ictalurus furcatus , and NWAC-103 Channel Catfish, I. punctatus Ganesh Kumar and Carole Engle 1 Aquaculture/Fisheries Center, University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, 1200 North University Drive, Mail Slot 4912, Pine Bluff, Arkansas 71601 USA Abstract Production studies comparing hybrid catfish (channel-blue), Ictalurus punctatus–Ictalurus furca- tus , with NWAC-103 channel catfish strains have produced conflicting results depending on the size of fingerling stocked and maternal genetic inheritance. Generally, the strain with larger fingerlings at stocking tended to grow better than strains with smaller fingerlings at stocking. A production trial was conducted at the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff research station to compare production char- acteristics and costs of hybrid catfish and NWAC-103 strains with similar stocking sizes of fingerlings and similar maternal inheritance. Ten 0.10-ha earthen ponds were stocked with 15,000 precision- graded fingerlings/ha (15–20 cm total length) of either channel-blue hybrid catfish or NWAC-103 channel catfish with five replicates of each treatment on April 14, 2006. There were no significant differences in growth, yield, survival, dress-out yield, seinability, and mean daily feed fed. The mean feed conversion ratio was significantly lower for the channel-blue hybrid catfish, but NWAC-103 channel catfish were more uniform in size at harvest. A partial budget analysis showed that, while the hybrids converted feed more efficiently, the benefit of the reduced cost of feed was less than the additional cost of the hybrid fingerlings. Thus, under the conditions of this study, it was more profitable to raise NWAC-103 channel catfish. Genetic enhancement programs that include hybridization and genetic selection have result- ed in significant improvements in production (growth, feed conversion, and survival) and processing traits (meat yield and quality) in ani- mal husbandry. Hybrid catfish produced from different species of Ictalurid catfish have been under study for more than 40 yr (Bosworth et al. 2005). The cross between female chan- nel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, and male blue catfish, Ictalurus furcatus, has shown the greatest promise (Giudice 1966; Dunham and Smitherman 1987; Chatakondi et al. 2005). The channel-blue hybrid catfish has been reported to exhibit superior characteristics, including faster growth and better feed conversion (Giu- dice 1966; Yant et al. 1975; Ramboux 1990; Dunham and Brummett 1999; Chatakondi et al. 1 Corresponding author. 2000; Dunham et al. 2000). Hybrids have been reported to exhibit greater tolerance to low dis- solved oxygen (Dunham et al. 1983), increased resistance to various diseases (Wolters et al. 1996), and improved tolerance to crowding (Dunham et al. 1990). Improved processing characteristics reported include greater unifor- mity in size and shape (Yant et al. 1975), and higher dress-out percentages (Argue 1996; Masser and Dunham 1998; Bosworth et al. 2004; Li et al. 2004), increased harvestabil- ity by seining, and increased vulnerability to angling (Dunham et al. 1987; Dunham and Argue 1998; Li et al. 2004). Channel-blue hybrid catfish also had higher visceral fat con- tent than did various strains of channel catfish (Huang et al. 1994; Li et al. 2007). Various native and genetically selected strains of channel catfish have also been evaluated over time. Of these, the NWAC-103 (National  Copyright by the World Aquaculture Society 2010 545