Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1
Fish Diseases and Management Department Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt
2
Nutrition and clinical Nutrition Department Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt
3
Biochemistry Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Sohag, Egypt
Abstract
In aquaculture facilities, routine processes such as live transportation has been done on the Nile tilapia juvenile to be reared and for breeding purposes. Live transportation activates the stress response compromising welfare of fish In the current study, a 5hour transport stress model was used to investigate how Oreochromis niloticus (O. niloticus), especially the skin, responds to transportation stress and to detect the salt’s mitigation effect on such stress. A total of 150 Oreochromis niloticus (53±3gm) were divided into three equal groups. The first was a non-transported control group (P1), the second was the (PT2) group, in which the fish were transported in a salt free water and the third was the (PT3) group, where a 5 g/L of salt was added to the water during transportation. The study results revealed that water pH and the dissolved oxygen levels decreased non-significantly ,while the total ammonia level increased significantly in the PT2 and PT3 groups compared with the control group. Survival rates of O. niloticus were 90 % and 96 % in PT2 and PT3 groups, respectively. In addition to , the bacterial colony forming units (CFU) in the liver and spleen of the P1 group was negligible(0.17 x 103g-1), however it was highly and progressively raised in the PT2 group and slightly elevated in PT3 group compared with the P1 group. Moreover , the serum glucose level at 0 hour post transportation was significantly higher in the PT2 group while no significant difference was recorded in the PT3 group comparing to the control group. However, at 12 h and 24hours serum glucose significantly decreased in both PT2 and PT3 groups, but no significant differences between the two groups were found. The histopathological study of the skin revealed marked differences in the PT2, PT3 groups compared with the control group. This study indicated that transportation had stressful effects on O. niloticus, and Nacl helped in mitigating the transport stress effects. Keywords: Nile tilapia, O. niloticus, salt, stress, Transportation
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