Effect of dietary inclusion of garlic as additive on growth, heamatology and histological changes of intestinal mucosa of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) fingerlings

Abstract

A 72-day experiment was conducted in outdoor of 0.9cm3 square concrete tanks filled with fresh water to
evaluate the effect of dietary inclusion of garlic as additive on growth performance, hematology and
histological changes of intestinal mucosa of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. 150 C. gariepinus fingerlings at
mean weight (3.13 ± 0.07g) and length 6.08±0.03cm were randomly distributed into five dietary treatments
and stocked at 10fingerlings per tank (120L) and replicated twice. They were fed with 45% crude protein
diets varied garlic inclusions at 0.00, 0.5, 0.75, 1.00 and 1.5 g/kg ad libitum twice daily. Data collected on
growth performance indices, nutrient utilization and blood parameters were subjected to one-way analysis
of variance (ANOVA) using Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The results revealed that fish increased
significantly in weight (P < 0.05) as the level of garlic increases in diets and utilized the feed efficiently than
the control. Significant differences (P < 0.05) were observed in all the blood parameters due to garlic
inclusions. The histological examinations indicated mild focal area of inflammatory cell aggregate, mild
infiltration of inflammatory cell (IIC) for 0.75 to 1.00g/kg and severe effect of ulceration and focal area of
necrotic debris (ND) of the mucosa was observed in control diet and inclusion levels above 1.00g/kg. Result
obtained in this study indicated that garlic inclusion in a compounded fish diets up to 1.00g/kg balances the
feed with no negative severe effect to the tissue. Dietary garlic inclusion at 1.00g/kg had the best
performance in growth and blood values. Therefore, from the findings of this research, garlic is encouraged
to be included in fish diet from 0.75-1.00g/kg.