Contributions Of Environmental And Haematological Factors To The Distributions Of Eustrongylides africanus Larvae In Clarias gariepinus And Clarias anguillaris From Bida Floodplain Of Nigeria

Abstract

The contributions of environmental and haematological factors to the distributions of Eustrongylides africanus larvae in Clarias gariepinus and C. anguillaris from Bida floodplain of Nigeria were investigated. Five environmental (rainfall, soil pH, water conductivity, sunshine and silt-clay) and four haematological (mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular haemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume and neutrophils count) factors respectively made the most important contributions to the distributions of E. africanus larvae infection in Clarias species; in descending order of magnitude; having the manifestations being closely related for the months of January, March and June; and January, March, September and December of the year for the environmental and haematological factors, respectively, in the wild population of Clarias species.

Keywords: Eustrongylides africanus larvae, Clarias species, environmental and haematological factors, Bida floodplain.

IFE Journal of Science Vol. 9 (1) 2007 pp. 23-32