Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effect of Zingiber officinale (ginger) and Hibiscus sabdariffa (roselle) as dietary supplements on serum biochemistry and some metabolites (urea and creatinine) in Clarias gariepinus (C. gariepinus). Methods: A total of 150 C. gariepinus juveniles [initial weight (35.41 ± 1.53) g] were randomly assigned to five test diets. Ginger and roselle were added to diets as additives at 2% and 4% respectively while control diet contained none of the substances. Blood samples were collected from treatment groups for biochemical analysis after 70 days feeding trial. Results: Significant changes (P < 0.05) were observed in serum enzymes (alkaline phosphatase, alanine amino transferase and aspartate amino transferase) activities. Significant increase (P < 0.05) in serum total protein was noticed in treated fish when compared to control. Relative changes in urea and creatinine levels were observed in fish fed with roselle based diets while insignificant changes (P > 0.05) were seen in ginger treated fish. Conclusions: The present study revealed that ginger and roselle added to the diets as additives had no adverse effect on the examined serum biochemistry in C. gariepinus.

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