Growth promoting and anti-microbial potentials of <i>Spondias mombin</i> L. and <i>Amaranthus viridis</i> L. in <i>Clarias gariepinus</i> (Burchell, 1822) (African sharptooth catfish) production.

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary inclusion of Amaranthus viridis (AV) and Spondias mombin (SM) leaf extract on growth, microbial load and haematological parameters of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell, 1822). One hundred and twenty fingerlings were randomly distributed into plastic tanks (45 L) at 10 fish /tank and replicated twice. Group 1 animals served as control, groups 2 and 3 had 250 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg of AV, groups 4 and 5 had 250 and 500 mg of SM, respectively, group 6 animals had 500 mg/kg of vitamin C. The weight of the animals were recorded weekly while hematological parameters were determined and visceral weight measured at the end of the experiment. The mean weight gain, final standard length and the viscerotropic indices were significantly different (p<0.05) (ANOVA, n=9) across the group with the highest values recorded in SM250 mg/kg group. Total microbial load was least in the AV500 group (42.5±12.38). Fish in AV250 group had the highest packed cell volume and white blood cell values of fish across the group. It can be concluded that the Spondias mombin has growth enhancing potential while Amaranthus viridis has immunostimulatory and antimicrobial potential and hence both can find usefulness in African catfish production.

Keywords: Amaranthus viridis, Antimicrobial, Growth, Spondias mombin