Haematological and Blood Biochemical Changes in African Catfish, Clarias gariepinus Fed Walnut (Tetracarpidium conophorum Mull Arg) Leaf and Onion (Allium cepa Linn) Bulb Supplemented Diets

Juvenile Clarias gariepinus were fed diets containing Onion Bulb (OB) and Walnut Leaf (WL) residues at different graded levels: control (0%), OB2 (0.5%), OB3 (1.0%), OB4 (1.5%), OB5 (2.0%), WL6 (0.5%), WL7 (1.0%), WL8 (1.5%) and WL9 (2.0%). Packed Cell Volume (PCV), Haemoglobin (Hb) content, Red Blood Cells (RBC) and White Blood Cells (WBC) counts were measured in test fish after 84 days of feeding. Biochemical indices such as total protein, Albumin as well as blood serum, aspartate amino-transferase and alanine amino-transferase were investigated before and after the experiment. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and ANOVA at p = 0.05. The results obtained showed that packed cell volume and haemoglobin content were significantly different (p<0.05) among the treatments while red blood cell, white blood cell and mean cell volume and mean cell haemoglobin were not significantly different (p>0.05) among the dietary groups. There were increases in total protein and albumin but values of aspartate amino-transferase and alanine amino-transferase decreased though not significantly (p>0.05) among the treatments. However, fish fed the walnut leaves and onion bulbs residue- based diets recorded higher values in PCV, Hb, WBC and total protein compared to the values obtained before experiment and the control. The results of this study suggested that the dietary supplementation of walnut leaves and onion bulbs residues could be a potential, less expensive and positively affected haematological factor and boost immune response of cultured Clarias gariepinus juveniles.