Effect of dietary cadmium level on the growth, body composition and several hepatic enzymatic activities of juvenile yellow catfish,Pelteobagrus fulvidraco

Abstract

The present study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary cadmium (Cd) level on the growth, body composition and several enzymatic activities of juvenile yellow catfish, Pelteobagrus fulvidraco. The experimental diets were formulated with CdCl2·2.5H2O at levels of 0, 0.01, 0.1 and 1.0 g kg−1 diet, resulting in four dietary Cd levels of 0.25 (control), 4.92, 48.57 and 474.7 mg Cd kg−1 diet respectively. They were fed to juvenile yellow catfish (mean initial weight: 3.26±0.07 g, mean±SD) for 4 weeks. Weight gain, specific growth rate, feed intake and protein efficiency ratio tended to decline with increasing dietary Cd levels (P 0.05). Hepatic alkaline phosphatase, glutathione peroxidase and lactate dehydrogenase activities increased (P 0.05). The present study provided for the first time the toxic assessment of dietborne Cd in yellow catfish, based on growth performance and the changes in hepatic enzymatic activities for the fish species.