Effect of exposure to palm oil mill effluent on reproductive impairment of male Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus, Linnaeus 1758)

¹ Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Almuslim University, Bireuen, Indonesia
² Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Technology, Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia
³ Department of Veterinary Clinic, Reproduction and Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia
⁴ Department of Anatomy Physiology and Pharmacology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, IPB University, Bogor, Indonesia
⁵ Center for Aquatic Research and Conservation (CARC), Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

^* Corresponding author: ilhamgravel@yahoo.com / ilham.zulfahmi@ar-raniry.ac.id

Abstract

One of the negative impacts arising from the existence of palm oil mill industries is the increase of pollution from Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME), particularly for the aquatic environment. This study was conducted to investigate the reproductive impairment of male Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus Linnaeus 1758) after exposed to POME. An experiment of a chronic test was carried out using a completely randomized design consisting four treatments with five replication: control (0 mg/L POME), treatment A (1.565 mg/L POME), treatment B (2.347 mg/L POME), and treatment C (3.130 mg/L POME). The exposure of POME was performed for 45 days. Reproductive hormone concentration, gonadosomatic index and spermatocrite value in each treatment statistically analyzed by using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results showed that the POME exposure had no significant impact on estradiol and testosterone concentrations (p>0.05), but, it triggered a decline in the progesterone concentration (p<0.05). Progesterone concentration decreased significantly from 0.57 ± 0.24 ng/mL in control to 0.28 ± 0.04 ng/mL in treatment C. The hormonal decline resulted in a significant decrease in gonadosomatic index and spermatocrite of male Nile Tilapi (p<0.05). In conclusion, exposure to POME induced reproductive impairment in male Nile Tilapia.