Intestinal morphology of Thai pangas (Pangasianodon hypophthalmus) under probiotic supplemented conditions

Abstract

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effects of probiotic supplementation on the
intestinal morphology of Thai pangasius (Pangasianodonhypophthalmus). The experiment was conducted in
15 earthen ponds of 0.75 dec. each. Each pond contained 600 fingerlings/decimal(5.69±1.23 g) and the
feeding trial was performed for 90 days. Commercially available gut nutrient additive, Mutagen and pH
FIXER (water additive probiotic) were used in the experiment. Five treatments were conducted each having
three replicates.Treatment 1 (T1) was provided with gut probiotics, treatment 2 (T2) with water probiotics,
Treatment 3 (T3) with50% gut probiotic and 50% water probiotic; Treatment 4 (T4) with prebiotic (yeast and
rice starch) and 50% gut and 50% water probiotic.Treatment 5 (T5) was designed as control. Fishes were fed
twice a day at the rate of 10-5% of body weight. Samplings were carried out fortnightly where gut samples
were collected for histology and water quality parameters were recorded. All water quality parameters were
found to be favorable for fish culture. Histological analysis of the gastrointestinal tract revealed that fold
length, width and enterocyte height were significantly larger (p<0.05) in fish of T3 and T4compared to those
of T1, T2, T5. Thus, probiotic supplementation can improve the intestinal morphology of Thai pangasius
which may increase the nutrient absorption in fish and thereby increase the digestion capacity.