Long term integrated biomarker responses in freshwater African catfish exposed to a new brand of herbicide fluazifop-p-butyl.

The study investigated the sublethal effects of Fluazifop-p-butyl FPB) on the haematological, biochemical and oxidative stress changes in Juvenile were exposed to FPB concentrations of 1.80, 3.50, and 7.10 mg/l corresponding to 5, 10 and 20% of 96 h LC value of FPB respectively for 21 days and allowed to recover for 7 days. The blood, liver and gills were removed and analyzed. Fish exposed to different concentrations of FPB showed significant decline in the values the pack cell volume, hemoglobin and red blood cells but the white blood cell values increased. The neutrophil values increased while the lymphocyte declined but the monocytes, basophil and eosinophil values remain unchanged. The liver and gill aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase significantly increased compared to the control. There were mixed trends in the values of glucose but total protein was reduced in both tissues of the fish. There was significant decline in superoxide dismutase, catalase and glutathione peroxidase while malondialdehyde, total glutathione, and glutathione reductase increased in both liver and gill of the exposed fish. Following the 7-day withdrawal, most of the observed parameters returned to normal values. The present study revealed that FPB is toxic to juveniles and prolonged exposure could result to major health risks to aquatic organisms, hence, they should be carefully used.