Haematological and Immunological Changes in the Blood of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus, Burchell 1822) Reared Under Different Sex Combinations

E.K. Ajani, A.N. Olanrewaju and O.K. Kareem

The effect of sex combinations on growth and survival of African catfish was evaluated using haematological indices. This study was conducted at the Wet Laboratory of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management Department, University of Ibadan. The experimental set-up involved four treatments labelled as NP (Natural population), MM (Only Male population), FF (Only Female population) and MF (Male and Female population). Juvenile C. gariepinus (66.56±2.25 g) were randomly stocked in twelve plastic aquaria (2.9 m³) at a density of 10 fish/tank and fed twice daily in split-rations with commercial diet of 42% crude protein at 3% b.wt. for 84 days. The differences in blood and plasma concentrations in fish before and after experiment were noted. The Pack Cell Volume (PCV) of the treatment groups (32.00±0.10 g L^-1) increased significantly relative to initial value (24.00±0.01), while their platelets counts showed significant variations compared to that of initial value. Significantly, Red Blood Cell (RBC) in treatments decrease (2.62±0.01-3.81±0.00 mg dL^-1) compared to initial value (11.77±0.00 mg dL^-1). However, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the mean Hemoglobin (Hb) values between the initial (8.00±0.10 g L^-1) and treatment groups. Also, the treatment groups showed a significant variation in serum biochemical values of total protein (6.00±0.01), albumin (2.23±0.33), cholesterol (105.00±1.00), aspartate aminotransferase (208.00±0.23) and glucose (27.00±0.28) compared to the initial values, total protein (5.27±0.01), albumin (0.75±0.01), cholesterol (117.84±0.02), aspartate aminotransferase (56.90±0.01) and glucose (64.77±0.01). There was also a significant increase in the creatinine concentrations. Hence, it can be concluded that the slight haematological changes observed between the initial value and treatment groups values cannot significantly affect the health of C. gariepinus reared under different sex combinations.

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