Effect of Dietary Nanoselenium on Biochemical Profile and Histopathology of Clarias gariepinus

Research was conducted for 60 days to determine the effects of dietary nanoselenium formulated diets on biochemical profile and histopathology of Clarias gariepinus. Fish acclimatization was done for 14 days, randomly selected 10 fish were stocked in triplicate per dietary treatment in rearing plastic trough. Two diets supplemented with nanoselenium at 2 mg/kg, 4 mg/kg, and the control with absence of nanoselenium were fed to the fish. The proximate composition of the feeds were analysed at the end of the feeding trial likewise the biochemical profile of the blood, gill, liver as well as the histopathology of the gill and liver of Clarias gariepinus fed varying inclusion level of nanoselenium were analysed. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), total protein, uric acid, urea, albumin, and total cholesterol in fish fed 2 mg/kg nanoselenium formulated diet compared to those fed 4 mg/kg nanoselenium formulated diet and the control. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and malondialdehyde in the gill and liver of fish fed 2 mg/kg nanoselenium formulated diet, however, increased significantly as compared to those fed 4 mg/kg formulated diet and the control, while the superoxidase dismutase (SOD) in the gill and liver of fish significantly increased as the concentration of dietary nanoselenium increased. There were histopathology alterations in the gill, and liver of the fish fed the two dietary treatment diets but with less impacts on fish health fed 2 mg/kg. The study indicated that the dietary inclusion of nanoselenium at 2 mg/kg had less effects in the hepatocytes and limited stress on the health of Clarias gariepinus as compared to 4 mg/kg nanoselenium formulated diets.