Comparative analysis of growth and health of juvenile African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fed with different starch diets

This study evaluated the effects of potato, wheat, rice, and corn starch on growth performance, blood parameters, digestive enzyme activity, antioxidative response, and gut microbiota of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. A control diet (a commercial fish diet) and four different starch (potato, PO; wheat, WH; corn, CO; rice, RC) formulations were fed to African catfish with average weight 10.5g (n = 30) for eight weeks. The experiment was conducted in triplicate. At the end of the feeding trial, the growth performance of African catfish fed with potato starch (PO) was significantly higher than other treatment groups. Furthermore, this group recorded significant and lowest feed conversion ratio (FCR) values compared to other groups. Meanwhile, there were no significant differences in all tested hematological parameters and antioxidative response between the groups. Digestive enzyme activities in the intestine of fish, comprising amylase, lipase, and protease, were significantly higher in African catfish fed with a PO diet. In addition, this group demonstrated substantially lower viscerosomatic index (VSI) and hepatosomatic index (HSI) than other groups indicating the fish has more meat on its body. The PO diet treatment group had significantly higher good gut microbiota, Akkermansia muciniphila. Therefore, the dietary PO diet potentially improves African catfish's growth performance and health status.