Effects of Cardamonin Enriched Diets on Growth, Intestinal Histology, Hematology, and Biochemical Parameters of Hybrid Catfish (Clarias macrocephalus × Clarias gariepinus)

Abstract

This research was aimed to evaluate the effects of cardamonin enriched diets on growth, intestinal histology, hematology, and biochemical parameters of hybrid catfish (Clarias macrocephalus × Clarias gariepinus). Fish (the initial weight of 7.00 ± 1.00 g) were fed with the diets containing cardamonin at 0 (control), 5, and 10 mg/kg diet for 8 weeks. After the feeding period, it was found that cardamonin enriched diets significantly enhanced growth parameters and feed utilization efficiency compared with the control (P<0.05). Additionally, cardamonin enriched diets significantly increased villi height, villi width, absorptive area, muscle thickness, and goblet cell compared with the control diets (P<0.05). Hematological indices including hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell, red blood cell, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration did not differ among the treatments (P>0.05). Serum cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, aspartate aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and creatinine were unaffected by cardamonin enriched diets (P>0.05), meanwhile, albumin levels of the tested fish were significantly increased compared with the control (P<0.05). In conclusion, these findings indicate that cardamonin could be used as a phytogenic feed additive to enhance the growth of hybrid catfish and the effective level observed was 10 mg/kg diet.