Preliminary study of dietary Muntingia calabura leaf on the hematology status of Clarias sp

Abstract

Muntingia calabura has antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti-inflammation properties including the leaf and fruit, but has not been explored its effects as feed additive on the hematology status of fish. This study was conducted to determine the effect of different dose of M. calabura as a feed additive on the hematology profile of Clarias sp. The research design used in this study was a complete randomized design with five treatments and four replications. Five types of diet were prepared by mixing dried powder M. calabura leaf with commercial feed manually, using egg white as a binder. The doses of M. calabura in feed were 0 g kg-1 (KN), 5 g kg-1 (M1), 10 g kg-1 (M2), 20 g kg-1 (M3), 40 g kg-1 (M4). The fish was fed three times a day for 14 days. The results showed there was a change in the total red blood cells (RBC), total white blood cells (WBC), haemoglobin (Hb), and hematocrit (Hc) levels during treatments. In the end of the observation, the highest WBC were in treatment M2 (169 ± 21.378 x 107 cells mL-1), while the highest RBC was in treatment M1 (365 ± 118.216 x 107 cells mL-1). The highest Hb and Hc level were occurred in treatment M3 (8.600 ± 0.265 g dL-1) and treatment M4 (65.333 ± 9.609 %), respectively.