Effect of sub lethal concentration of imidacloprid on proximate body composition of Labeo rohita

Randomly selected ۳۲۰ fingerling of Labeo rohita were collected from Faheem fish farm, Mattital Road, Multan. Groups of ۴۰ fish each were exposed to subleathal concentration of imidacloprid (۱۲۰ mg L-۱) under short (۲, ۴ and ۸ days) and long term (۱۶, ۳۲ and ۶۴ days) conditions to access the effect of this most extensively used pesticide on the body composition parameters of economically most important fresh water fish, L. rohita, in Pakistan. Separate control groups were used for each imidacloprid treatment. It was found that most of the studied body composition parameters remained unaffected during short and long term experimental treatments as compared to their respective control groups with the exception of the ۶۴ days treatment where several parameters including body weight ( p = ۰.۰۲), dry body weight (p = ۰.۰۰۵), % dry weight (p = ۰.۰۰۱), total water contents ( p = ۰.۰۴), total fat (p = ۰.۰۳), % fat wet weight (p = ۰.۰۰۱), % fat dry weight (p = ۰.۰۰۳), total organic contents (p = ۰.۰۴), % organic content wet weight (p = ۰.۰۰۱), total proteins (P p = ۰.۰۰۵) and % protein wet body weight ( p = ۰.۰۰۱) had significantly lower values in imidacloprid treated fish as compared to control group. Our results indicated that chronic exposure of imidacloprid can adversely affect the nutritional quality of L. rohita.