FEASIBILITY STUDIES ON THE USE OF SEWAGE-SLUDGE AS SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDFOR REARING TILAPIA .2. PCBS OF THE TREATED FISH, AND BIOCHEMICAL RESPONSE IN THE FISH LIVER
Ms. Yang et al., FEASIBILITY STUDIES ON THE USE OF SEWAGE-SLUDGE AS SUPPLEMENTARY FEEDFOR REARING TILAPIA .2. PCBS OF THE TREATED FISH, AND BIOCHEMICAL RESPONSE IN THE FISH LIVER, Environmental technology, 14(12), 1993, pp. 1163-1169
This study investigated the levels of PCBs (polychlorinated biphenols)
in the sludge cake and in tilapia, Oreochromis mossambicus fed on slu
dge supplemented diet, and the biochemical responses in the liver of t
ilapia fed the diet. A significant increase in the PCB concentrations
was found in the flesh of fish fed on sludge (30%) supplemented diet.
Total PCBs detected in the fish was 61.05 ng g(-1) (wet wt) and higher
chlorinated PCB isomers were much more common than lower chlorinated
PCB isomers. The sludge was found to be contaminated with PCBs. The ac
tivity of UDP-glucuronosyl-transferase (UDP-GT) was greater in treated
fish at Day 5 in comparison to control fish and there was an increase
in most fish during the experimental period. The sludge-supplemented
diets did not impose any effect on both alanine aminotransferase (GPT)
and aspartate aminotransferase (GOT) activities upto 30 days. However
, the liver GOT activity was significantly increased (p<0.05) in fish
receiving 10 and 30% of sludge-supplemented diets while GPT activity w
as significantly decreased (p<0.05) in fish receiving 30% of sludge-su
pplemented diet only, when compared with the control group, at the end
of the experiment. The level of triglyceride of the treated fish was
not significantly different (p>0.05) from fish fed the control diet. T
he changes in liver metabolism in fish fed with sludge diets indicated
the existence of xenobiotics.