HEMATOLOGICAL AND HISTOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE TESTIS AND LIVER OF MALE AFRICAN CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus) FED RATION SUPPLEMENTED WITH Vernonia amygdalina Del

Abstract

The hematological and histological features of 56 male Clarias gariepinus sh weighing 450 ±50 g were studied after supplementing their diet with V. amygdalina Del leaves at four inclusion levels: 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% for 45 days. The duplicate design was used in the conduct of the experiment. Hematology, testosterone assay, condition indices, histology of the liver and testes and histomorphometry of the testes were then studied. There was no signi cant difference (p>0.05) in the complete blood count, testosterone concentration, gonadosomatic index and hepatosomatic index across the groups. Histology of the liver revealed greater hepatocytes vacuolation in treated groups than the control while the histology of the testes showed the control had the best histological integrity of all the groups. The 10% and 15% groups had signi cantly higher seminiferous tubule widths. The results of the study show that V. amygdalina had no signi cant effects on most of the studied parameters of sh and may not be steroidogenic; hence, the leaf can be included in the diet of male C. gariepinus at the tested levels with some degree of caution.