The effects of Vernonia amagdalina on growth and oxidative stress parameters of Clarias gariepinus (Burchell 1822) exposed to diclofenac

Abstract

Medicinal plants and plant extracts have been employed by rural fish farmers in fish management. This present study was designed to investigate the ameliorative effect of a medicinal plant, bitter leaf (Vernonia amagdalina) extract on African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings contaminated with diclofenac using biometric and oxidative stress indices. The fingerlings were exposed to different concentrations of both bitter leaf extract (BLE) (2 and 6% body weight) and diclofenac (DCF) (0.3 and 0.4 mg/L) after a series of range-finding tests. The length and weight of the experimental fishes were taken weekly from different concentrations and were used to calculate the growth parameter. There were no significant differences (p<0.05) among the treatments in mean weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and condition factor when compared to their various control groups. Liver tissues of the experimental fishes were collected on the 14^th and 28^th day, from different concentrations and were assay for oxidative stress. The antioxidants: CAT (30.22 ± 0.148 to 66.50 ± 0.707) and MDA (22.61 ± 0.233 to 66.50 ± 3.536) increased significantly when compared to the control. The results indicated that the given concentration of diclofenac and V. amygdalina cause significant alteration in the oxidative stress of C. gariepinus and may have no adverse effect on the growth of C. gariepinus. However, this study did not show the detoxifying potential of V. amygdalina against the adverse effect of diclofenac in C. gariepinus.