EFFECTS OF REPLACING DIETARY FISH OIL WITH VEGETABLE OILS ON HEAMATOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF AFRICAN CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus)
George, F.O.A; Akinyemi, A. A. and Oladejo, P. T.
Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management
University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria
E-mail: akinyemiaa@unaab.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
Dietary Fish oil replaced with vegetable oils was evaluated as an ingredient in practical diet for Clarias gariepinus reared in net fish hapas (1m x 1m x 1m) suspended by bamboo poles in an earthen pond. 25 fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus were distributed inside each hapas of 20 – twenty net fish hapas which amounted to 500 fingerlings reared for complete 56 days (8-eight weeks). After 8 weeks blood were extracted by puncturing the dorsal aorta into EDTA bottles which was taken to the laboratory for haematological analysis. The packed cell volume (PCV), Haemoglobin (Hb), Red Blood Cell (RBC), white blood cell (WBC), of the treatment (T3) increased significantly relative to the control. while WBC decreased significantly in treatment two (soyabean oil) compared with the control. Others heamatological analyses (MCV, MCH and MCHC) showed that there is no significantly difference (P>0.05) between the values of these haematological parameters. Therefore, the significant difference were observed in the levels of RBC (P<O.05) which may be as a result of the stress the fish were exposed to during the study.
Keywords: Clarias gariepinus, haematological properties, fish oil and vegetable oil