Effects of starvation and feeding strategies on hematological and biochemical indices in Russian sturgeon Acipenser gueldenstaedtii

The effects of feeding strategies on cytological and biochemical indices in juvenile Russian sturgeon were studied. For this, 180 Russian sturgeons (77 ± 0.33 g) were stocked in three treatments with 20 fish in each tank and three replicates. Different feeding strategies including starvation, restricted feeding and feeding to satiation were assessed. At the beginning, middle and at the end of experiment, blood samples were collected to assay the blood indices. The results showed that at the end of the experimental period, starvation caused a significant decrease in the number of white blood cells (WBC) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV; p<0.05), while significant elevations were observed in the red blood cell count (RBC), hemoglobin (Hb) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) compared to the other sampling times (p<0.05). The results also showed that there is significant difference between starvation and the other groups in case of WBC, RBC and Hct (p<0.05) after 8 weeks, while no significant differences were found among treatments in terms of Hb, MCV, MCH and MCHC (p>0.05). Moreover, the results exhibited that starvation leads to a significant decrease in the plasma glucose and total protein, while a significant increase in cholesterol and triglycerides compared to the other treatments (p<0.05). This study displayed some adverse effects of starvation on hematological and biochemical indices of Russian sturgeon, so that most of hematological and biochemical indices in starvation were significantly different from the other groups. Therefore, this study indicates that Russian sturgeon is unable to acclimate to long-term starvation period and adverse effects of starvation will increase over time.