Submit Manuscript | http://medcraveonline.com are low in antinutritional factors [4]. Barley has been included in feed for animal species, mainly due to its high β-glucan content. β-glucans are commonly used as a vaccine adjuvant [5] and as immunostimulatory feed ingredient [6].Histological studies have been carried out using different bioactive products such as β-glucans [7] howeverscarce information is available regarding the effect on diet of whole cereal grains. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of barley on liver morphology and histology parameters.
Material and MethodsFish grew in a recirculation system and fed 4 experimental diets [8] with increasing barley levels (0-16%) were used. Groups of 25 fish (average weight 128 g) were housed in 20 cylindrical fibreglass tanks (four per treatment). The trial lasted 78 days and was conducted in a freshwater recirculating system (RAS). At the end of the growth trial three fish livers per tank were collected. Livers were preserved in phosphate buffered formalin (4% pH 7.4). Three sections were obtained from each liver (two transversal and one longitudinal). For histological analysis, 4 μm tissue slices were stained with hematoxylin-eosin. Liver slices were evaluated for the infiltration of perpancreatic fat, hepatocytes area and length and presence of lymphocytes foci. This evaluation was carried out individually for each sample. Microphotographs were taken using a Nikon Microphot-FXA microscope and Olympus DP50 camera. Liver photographs (100X) were used to measure the area and maximum (L max ) and minimum (L min ) lengths of randomly selected hepatocytes passing through nucleus. For each fish, 15 hepatocytes were measured. All measurements were analysed using Image Pro ® Plus software (media Cybernetics, Inc.; MD, USA).Statistical analysis was performed using SAS version 9 (SAS Institute Inc., Cary, North Carolina, USA). When the variances were not normally distributed, the Kruskall-Wall is non-parametric test was applied to the data and the multiple comparison procedure to find non-paramentric pair differences were contrasted by Dunns test. The infiltration of perpancreatic fat and the presence of lymphocytes foci were analysed using the CATMOD procedure, and the significance was determined using a chi-square test at p<0.05.The study complied with European Union Council Directive 2010/63/UE, which lays down minimum standards for the protection of animals and Spanish National Legislation (Spanish Royal Decree 53/2013) and approved by Animal Ethics Committee of ITACyL.
Results and DiscussionHistological analysis of the fish fed diets containing increasing barley levels exhibited morphological changes, unlike results obtained of rearing and quality parameters [8]. Liver cell vacuolization was significantly lower on fish fed 16B diets than
AbstractThis study investigated the effects of the incorporation of barley instead of wheat to study fish growth and biometrics parameters, body composition, retention efficiency and liver histology of rainbow trout ...