EFFECT OF DIETARY CALCIUM LEVELS ON GROWTH, HEALTH AND HISTOLOGICAL CHANGES OF CLARIAS GARIEPINUS

EFFECT OF DIETARY CALCIUM LEVELS ON GROWTH, HEALTH AND HISTOLOGICAL CHANGES OF CLARIAS GARIEPINUS

Badawi, M.¹; Farahat, M.¹; Sozan, A. Ali ²;

Abd elhakim, Y.³and Alshimaa A.Khalil ³

¹Department of Nutrition and Clinical Nutrition, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt.

²Department of Histology and Cytology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt.

³Department of Fish Diseases and Management, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Zagazig University, Egypt.

Abstract

This study aimed to detect the optimal calcium requirement for clarias gariepinus
(C. gariepinus) by feeding them with diets containing different levels of (Ca) calcium (1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 %) and illustrate their effects on growth performance, some whole body (biochemical composition and minerals), serum biochemical parameters and histological alterations. One hundred and fifty apparently healthy C. gariepinus with an average body weight 15.00 ± 0.50g was used. Fish were divided randomly into five equal triplicate groups (10 fish per replicate). The feed of fish was isonitrogenous, isocaloric diets in which it fed four times daily at rate of 4-5 % of body weight for 10 weeks. The results revealed that there was no significant (P > 0.05) in growth indices (body weight, body gain % and specific growth rate %) when compared with fish fed on control diets. There was also no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the average daily feed intake, feed conversion rate (FCR) and survival rates with all groups. Crude protein (CP %) in body biochemical composition showed a significant (P < 0.05) improvement when level of dietary inorganic-Ca is increased. Change in inorganic dietary-Ca level, had significantly affected on Ca level of whole body contents (P < 0.05) however the levels of the phosphorus (P), potassium (K), and magnesium (Mg) of whole body were not affected. Also the results showed that, the differences in amount of inorganic Ca in diets at the range of 1 to 1.8% could not significantly affect on growth indices, body biochemical composition, some whole body minerals and serum biochemical parameters. The histological study revealed an increasing in active cells and melano-macrophage centers of corpuscle of stannuis of C. gariepinus when the dietary calcium level increased.

Key words: Calcium, Growth Performance, Health, Histological, C. gariepinus.