HAEMATOLOGICAL RESPONSES OF AFRICAN CATFISH (Clarias gariepinus, BURCHELL, 1822) JUVENILES EXPOSED TO ACUTE CONCENTRATIONS OF BUTACHLOR (HERBICIDE).

The possible changes in the haematological parameters of Clarias gariepinus juveniles exposed to acute concentrations of butachlor was examined in this study. One hundred and twenty juveniles of C. gariepinus were used for the study. The acute toxicity bioassay was a completely randomized design consisting of six treatments, with varying concentrations of butachlor (0.0, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0 mg/l) all in duplicates. The post-exposure haematological parameters results revealed that the exposed fish showed significant (p < 0.05) progressive reduction in packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (Hgb), total protein (TP) and total red blood cells count (TRBC) as the concentration of the toxicant increases. However, the values of total white blood cells count (TWBC), tends to increase with an increase in concentration of the toxicant. The absolute blood indices, mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC), showed fluctuating values though no significant differences (p>0.05) was observed among the treatments.