Some haematological and biochemical profile of blood of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fed on diets containing watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) seedmeal

The haematological and biochemical profile of blood of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fed on diets containing watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) seedmeal were evaluated using packed cell volume (PCV); haemoglobin content (Hb), white blood cell count (WBC), red blood cell count (RBC), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), blood glucose, cholesterol, total protein, albumin and globulin as indices. 150 tilapia fingerlings of average weight 6.12±0.05g were acclimatized for a week, weighed and allotted into five dietary treatments; DT1, DT2, DT3, DT4 and DT5 containing 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60% Citrullus lanatus replacement levels with soybean meal, respectively. The diets were isonitrogenous and isolipidic. Each treatment was replicated three times with ten fish per replicate. Fish were fed 5% body weight on two equal proportion per day. The results from the study indicated that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the haematological and biochemical parameters of the blood of fish fed on the various dietary treatments.Keywords: Blood biochemistry, Citrullus lanatus, haematology, tilapia, watermelon