Genotoxicity assessment of ammonia in cultured Oreochromis niloticus using RAPD assay

Limited efforts have been made to study the genotoxic effects of ammonia in cultured OOreochromi niloticus. Therefore, the present study was planned to assess the genotoxic effect of ammonia in cultured O. niloticus using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) assay. Fish was categorized into four groups. The 1st group exposed to 2.5 mg/L of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) (0.16 NH3 mg/L), the 2nd exposed to 5.0 mg/L of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) (0.32 NH3 mg/L) and the 3rd exposed to 10.0 mg/L of total ammonia nitrogen (TAN) (0.65 NH3 mg/L), in addition to control group for the treatment period of 6 days. The results revealed that some genes in O. niloticus are susceptible to DNA disturbances/mutation as a result of exposure to high concentration of ammonia in water, this clearly indicated using RAPD screening assay.