Section : Research Article

Published Date : Apr 22, 2019

Abstract

The effects of Tridax procumbens supplemented into the experimental diets at different inclusion levels of Clarias gariepinus juvenile fish with mean weight 42.87  0.92 g for 56 days were investigated for growth performance and hematology profile. Ten fishes each were distributed to five treatments that contained 0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, and 0.20% of T. procumbens leaf meal, separately. Each treatment was replicated three times, and the fishes were fed with diets according to treatments. Physicochemical properties were monitored weekly; feeding was carried out in the morning (8:00-8:30 am) and evening (4:00-4:30 pm) daily. Routine monitoring and mortality occurrences were recorded. The growth of fish was assessed fortnightly on randomly selected fish samples, and morphometric measurements on length and weight gain of fish were assessed. Hematology examination of fish was assessed fortnightly. The results revealed that water parameters ranged within recommended limits. Fish fed inclusion level of 0.10% of T. procumbens leaf meal-based diet had the best growth weight (37.20  0.82 g). Hematology analysis shows fish fed with a diet containing 0.05% of T. procumbens to be the best: packed cell volume (PCV) (31.00  3.00%) and red blood cell (RBC) (3.43  0.33  106 ). However, a decrease in the hematology indices from fishes fed with 0.15% of T. procumbens was as follows: PCV (21  3.00%) and RBC (2.38  0.33  106 ). Highest white blood cell (WBC) was recorded in fish fed 0.15% (8100  900) and least in fish fed 0.20% (5300  500). Moreover, there is no significant difference (p  0.05) in PCV, hemoglobin (Hb), WBC, RBC, mean cell hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), mean cell hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), neutrophil (NEU), and lymphocyte (LYM) of the fish samples in the varying treatments; however, there was significant difference (p  0.05) in the monocyte (MON) and eosinophils (EOS). The fish were found to have developed antibodies to fight disease conditions, which enable robust growth performance and good health status