Effect of temperature on the growth performance, haematological properties and histomorphology of gill, intestine and liver tissues in juvenile butter catfish Ompok bimaculatus

Abstract A 90‐day long indoor aquarium trial was conducted to assess the consequence of temperature on the growth, blood chemistry and histology of gill, intestine and liver tissues of Ompok bimaculatus juveniles. Homogeneous juveniles were randomly stocked into four different treatments of 20, 35 30 and 25℃ (room temperature as control), and these replications were marked as T 20 , T 30 , T 35 and T 25 , respectively. Juvenile fish were fed with commercial diets at 5% body weight three consecutive times a day. Fish in T 30 showed significantly higher growth performances and a higher percentage of specific growth rate (SGR%) in comparison to the control group in T 25 ( p  p  > 0.05) changes in SGR% were reported between T 30 and T 35 groups. Haematological analyses showed significant ( p  20 and T 35 compared to control T 25 . Significantly higher Hb and WBC were observed in T 30 among treatments. No significant changes ( p  > 0.05) in red blood cells (RBC) were observed between T 25 and T 30 , while T 20 and T 35 showed significantly lower RBC. Histological analyses revealed that the liver and gill tissues were well‐shaped in T 30 compared to distinctive pathology in other treatments. Again, the apparent formation of intestinal villi height was highest observed in T 30 in comparison to other groups. It is concluded that the highest growth performance and physiological development of butter catfish would be obtained at 30℃ rearing temperatures.