Histological Changes in the Organs of Clarias gariepinus Fed Processed Velvet Beans

Raw velvet beans (Mucuna utilis) were cooked in boiling water for 30 minutes, dried and milled into powder. The resulting meal was substituted for soybean diet at four inclusion levels and fed to the juveniles of Clarias gariepinus for 84 days after which the fish were examined for possible histological changes in vital organs such as the gill, liver, kidney and brain. Fish fed 0% (control) diet showed no histological lesions in any of the organs. The gills of fish fed Cooked Velvet Beans (CVB) based diets did not show any pathological lesion. However, varying histological lesions such as spongiosis of white matter in the brain, diffuse vacuolation of hepatocytes in the liver and marked congestion of the cells of the kidney were observed in fish fed CVB based diets. Feeding cooking velvet beans based diets does not impair the functioning of the gills of C. gariepinus.