This study was designed to explore the effects of kind and level of dietary carbohydrate on the growth performance and physiological indices of juvenile black carp (Mylopharyngdon piceus Richardson). Four hundred and eighty fish with an average initial body weight of （1.63±0.10） g were randomly divided into 4 groups with 3 replicates of 40 fish in each replicate. They were fed the isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets containing 20% glucose (low carbohydrate), 40% glucose (high carbohydrate), 20% dextrin (low carbohydrate) and 40% dextrin (high carbohydrate), respectively for 16 weeks. After feeding trial，the erythrocyte fragility (Eof), content of glycosylated hemoglobin (GHb), activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and lysozyme, total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), total complement hemolysis (CH₅₀) and spleen, liver and pancreas indices were determined. Meanwhile, three hundred and sixty fish with an average initial body weight of (4.3±0.5) g were randomly divided into 4 groups, and fed the corresponding diets for 8 weeks to analyze the 24 h survival rate after cadmium chloride injection. The results showed that, the growth performance of juvenile black carp was not significantly affected by the kind and level of dietary carbohydrate （P>0.05）; the contents of GHb in high carbohydrate group was significantly higher than that in low group (P<0.05), the activities of hepatopancreas SOD, plasma SOD and plasma T-AOC in glucose group were significantly higher than that in dextrin group (P<0.05), the activities of hepatopancreas TAOC in high carbohydrate group was significantly higher than that in low group (P<0.05); the Eof in high carbohydrate group was significantly lower than that in low group (P<0.01). Different kind and level of dietary carbohydrate had no significant effects on the activities of CH₅₀, lysozyme and the 24 h survival rate after cadmium injection (P>0.05). The results indicated that juvenile black carp could tolerate 40% dietary carbohydrate and the carbohydrate could improve the antioxidant capacity, especially glucose.