TITLE:
Impact of Water Deterioration on Growth Indices and Meat Quality of Tilapia zillii and Solea aegyptiaca Fish Inhabiting Lake Qaroun, Egypt
AUTHORS:
Khalid H. Zaghloul, Sara R. Ramadan, Safaa S. Aljilaney, Mohamed A. Helaly
KEYWORDS:
Lake Qaroun, T. zillii, S. aegyptiaca, Condition Factor, Meat Qualit
JOURNAL NAME:
Natural Resources,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
20,
2023
ABSTRACT: The present work studies water deterioration, fish survival and
production as a result of effluents discharged directly without prior
treatments into lake Qaroun at Fayoum governorate, Egypt. Lake Qaroun
represents heavily polluted wild habitat for both studied fish species, Tilapia
zillii and Solea aegyptiaca, the most abundant species. Results
revealed deterioration in water quality (low dissolved oxygen but high ammonia,
nitrite, copper, lead and cadmium) of Northeastern sector where El-Bats drain
discharge its effluents without prior treatment followed by that of eastern
sector at four km from the point of El-Bats discharge. Water salinity and
dissolved oxygen values were in the following order: Western lake Qaroun sector
> Eastern lake Qaroun sector > Northeastern lake Qaroun sector. However,
Ammonia and nitrite readings were in the following order: Northeastern sector
of Lake Qaroun is followed by the Eastern sector, then the Western sector.
Moreover, results of the present field study revealed a decrease in fish
production with the lowest condition factor and a deterioration in meat quality
(an increase in muscle water content and ash but a decrease total protein and
total lipids) in case of fish collected from the polluted sites along the lake
(Northeastern and eastern sectors). However, fish collected from the
unpolluted western sector of the lake showed condition factor and chemical
muscle composition more or less similar to normal healthy fish.