Growth Differences of Growth Hormone Transgenic Female and Male Channel Catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, Grown in Earthen Ponds to Sexual Maturation

This study compared growth performance between female and male transgenic channel catfish, Ictalurus punctatus, containing channel catfish growth hormone full-length cDNA driven by the ocean pout antifreeze protein promoter, opAFP-ccGH, the rainbow trout metallothionein promoter, rtMT-ccGH, or both constructs, and their non-transgenic siblings in earthen ponds at 16 and 48 months of age. Body weight between the transgenic and their non-transgenic siblings differed (P 0.05). In the case of non-transgenic GH siblings, males were larger than females at both 16 and 48 months of age (P