Author(s):

R Dinesh, Chandra Prakash, NK Chadha and Nalini Poojary

Abstract: Tobacco leaf dust, due to its low cost, local availability and complete degradability could be used as a novel and alternative product in anaesthesia and euthanasia procedures for fishes. Utilizing these benefits of tobacco, the present study was carried out to determine the anaesthetic potential of tobacco in rohu fingerlings and also to investigate its efficacy in euthanasia procedure when the individuals are to be sacrificed. Different concentrations of tobacco leaf dust such as 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, 1.00, 1.25 g L^-1 and 0.00, 2.00, 3.00, 4.00, 5.00, 6.00 g L^-1 were tested for anaesthetic potential and euthanasia in rohu fingerlings (9.46 ± 0.56 cm and 6.29 ± 0.43 g), respectively for 30 minutes in glass tanks (30 L capacity) at a stocking density of 10 fishes/tank among which 0.00 g L^-1 was used as control. Increase in the concentrations of tobacco leaf dust decreased and increased the induction and recovery times significantly (p<0.05) in anaesthesia and euthanasia experiments. 100% mortality of fishes was observed during euthanasia in all the treatments with a variation in induction times while 100% survival rates were noticed in all the treatment groups of anaesthetic experiment. Our results reveal that tobacco would be a cheap and promising natural product to anaesthetise (1.25 g L^-1) and euthanize (6.00 g L^-1) rohu fingerlings with a rapid induction time for minor operations/handling (where fish will be released back) and for culling/laboratory analyses (where fish will be killed), respectively.

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