Bolade Thomas Adeyemo^{1, 2} , Solomon Gabriel Shola² , Apochi James Ocheme^{2, 3} , Obande Roselen Ada² , Dagah Helen¹ , Odo Joel²

1 Department of Veterinary Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Abuja, PMB 117 Abuja, Nigeria
2 Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, College of Fisheries and Forestry, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue state, Nigeria
3 West African Agricultural Advancement Program, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Garki Abuja, Nigeria
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2018, Vol. 8, No. 2   doi: 10.5376/ija.2018.08.0002
Received: 15 Nov., 2017    Accepted: 04 Jan., 2018    Published: 19 Jan., 2018

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Adeyemo B.T., Shola S.G., Ocheme A.J., Ada O.R., Helen D., and Joel O., 2018, Serum biochemistry reference intervals of Clarias gariepinus farmed in earthen pond systems in the Southern Guinea Savanna Agro-Ecological zone of Nigeria, International Journal of Aquaculture, 8(2): 8-16 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2018.08.0002)

The monitoring of health in fish farms partly relies on the availability of exact serum biochemistry reference intervals as these data provides a base for the interpretation of tests to assess health status. Serum biochemistry reference intervals for Clarias gariepinus cultured in earthen pond system was established following evaluations of two hundred and forty healthy fish sampled across eight farms. The S.B.R.I were: Total protein 31.22-42.11 g/dl in juveniles and 38.96-43.57 g/dl in adults; Albumin 6.72-10.21 g/dl in juveniles and 6.25-8.93 g/dl in adults; Globulin 8.39-50.83 in juveniles and 24.23-33.64 g/dl in adults; Alanine aminotransferase 12.55-23.65 IU/L in juveniles and 7.35-13.72 IU/L in adults; Aspartate aminotransferase 90.62-121.64 IU/L in juveniles and 83.41-101.62 IU/L in adults; Glucose 17.04-26.22 mg/dl in juveniles and 10.17-48.93 mg/dl in adults; Cholesterol 91.09-101.24 mg/dl in juveniles and 91.40-155.87 mg/dl in adults; HDL-cholesterol 9.17-29.01 mg/dl in juveniles and 19.27-29.01 mg/dl in adults. Other results include Lactate dehydrogenase 28.06-54.03 mg/dl in juveniles and Urea 1.96-4.11 mg/dl in juvenile fish. These data will serve as a tool for the monitoring of health and nutritional condition of Clarias gariepinus farmed in ponds at the Southern Guinea Savanna agro-ecological zone of Nigeria.

Albumin; Alanine aminotransferase; Globulin; Aspartate aminotransferase; Clarias gariepinus