Dietary clove (Eugenia caryophyllata) buds extract stimulates the healing of artificially wounded African catfish (Clarias gariepinus B.) juveniles

ABSTRACT

African catfish, Clarias gariepinus (B.), a scale-less fish, is prone to be wounded due to high stocking density, predation, territorial protection, and so on. This wound could serve as an entry point of pathogens causing biological and economical losses if not well managed. Therefore, the present study evaluated the wound healing potentiality of clove, Eugenia caryophyllata, buds extract (ECBE) on artificially wounded African catfish. Four isonitrogenous diets (40% crude protein) were prepared to contain ECBE at levels of 0.0, 5.0, 10.0, or 15.0 g/kg diet. Fish (61.5 ± 2.51 g) were lacerated (1 cm long) in both caudal and lateral regions and allotted to 12 rectangular tanks in a completely randomized design. The fish were fed on one of the experimental diets in triplicates for 14 days while observing the wound healing closure and histological changes. Fish fed ECBE-supplemented diets had better healing rates and percentage faster than that fed the control diet. The wound healing rate and percentages were delayed in fish fed control and lower levels of ECBE diets. However, fish fed a diet containing 15 g ECBE/kg diet achieved total/highest healing (100%) on the 12th day post-wound (dpw) in lateral and 10th dpw in caudal regions, while the least healing rate (6.29%/day) and percentage (88%) were obtained in fish fed the control diet in lateral and caudal regions in 14 dpw. Furthermore, the wound was been healed faster in the caudal region than the lateral one with earlier tissue regeneration and normal aligned keratinocytes of the epidermal layer and muscle layer. Therefore, the inclusion of 15 g ECBE/kg diet in diets for African catfish could be used in fish farming to achieve faster wound healing and to avert mortality and infection associated with wounds.

KEYWORDS:

• Clove extracts supplementation
• laceration
• dermal wound
• African catfish
• tissue regeneration

Ethical statement

The protocol of the study was subjected to ethical consideration and was approved by Animal Care Use and Research Ethics Committee, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo state, Nigeria with reference number UI-ACUREC/App/03/2017/008.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.