Assessment of the Ameliorative Roles of Vitamins A, C and E on Morphometric Paramters of Clarias Gariepinus (Burchell, 1822) Fingerlings Exposed to Cadium Choride

Abstract Environmental pollution in the form of Cd is a major environmental problem arising mostly from anthropogenic activities all over the world causing both health and economic loses either in the short- or long-run. The roles of vitamins in mitigating the effects of Cd toxicant in term of morphological differentiation were investigated. Clarias gariepinus fingerlings (whose initial weight ranged from 3-11g, standard length ranged from 7.9-9.4cm and total length ranged from 8.9-10.9cm) were exposed to sub-lethal concentrations of Cd(00, 12mg/L, 16mg/L, 20mg/L and 24mg/L) with replicate in each case. Minimum concentration of the toxicant was taken as the concentration for each of the vitamins and administered to all treatments. The morphometric parameters measured on weekly for a period of 12 weeks were standard lengths (SL), total lengths (TL) and weight from 2 randomly selected samples from each treatment and replicate. Fresh concentrations of the toxicant and vitamins were prepared and administered every 72 hours following standard procedures when the water was changed. The various treatments group include Cd (Cd only with T1-T4 and replicates), CdVA (Cd+vitamin A with T1-T4 and replicates), CdVC ((Cd+vitamin C with T1-T4 and replicates) and CdVE (Cd+vitamin E with T1-T4 and replicates). The weight derivatives such as specific growth rate (SGR), weight gain (WG) and % weight gain (% WG) were also calculated at the end of the exposure periods