Effects of Dietary Supplementation of Spirulina platensis and Garlic on the Growth Performance and Expression Levels of Immune-related Genes in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Abstract

Sixty days feeding trial was carried out to investigate the supplemental effects of dietary phytobiotic mixture composed of Spirulina platensis powder (SP) and Garlic powder (GP) on the growth performance, intestinal morphometry, and immune responses of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. A total of 240 cultured O. niloticus (41.4 ± 0.09 g) were randomly divided into four experimental groups (three replicate/group), fed on basal diets contain 0% (control), 1% (SP), 0.5% (GP), or a combination of both (SP + GP). Fish group fed on phytobiotic mixture showed significant improvements in its feed intake, live weight gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio (p<0.05), associated with a healthy gut, compared to non-supplemented control. Dietary supplementation of phytobiotics appeared to stimulate the humoral and cellular innate immunity. Fish group that were fed on phytobiotic mixture revealed up-regulation in some immune related genes; TNF-α and liver hepcidin as well as it exhibited the least cumulative mortality % upon A. hydrophila infection. So we can conclude that dietary supplementation of garlic and Spirulina have been improved the growth performance, gut health, immune status and disease resistance in Nile tilapia.

Effect of Spirulina Platensis on Reproductive Performance of Rabbit Bucks

“…Rabbit bucks orally administrated with S. platensis at a level of 700 mg/buck daily were significantly (P<0.01) heavier than those in control group (Table 1). Impact of S. platensis dietary addition on growth performance of rabbits was indicated also in broiler chicks (Shanmugapriya et al, 2015;Pandav and Puranik, 2015), fattening lambs (El-Sabagh et al, 2014) and Nile tilapia (Abu-Elala et al, 2016). The observed positive effect of S. platensis as an antioxidant on growth performance of rabbits in the present study is in agreement with the effect of different dietary additives such as selenium, folic acid and their combinations on increasing LBW of rabbit bucks (Kamel, 2012).…”

“…Spirulina alga (SA) is a primitive planktonic photosynthetic filamentous cyanobacterium that has a simple structure but a complex composition. It has high feeding value with wide range of medicinal applications (Abu-Elala et al, 2016). The SA contains important compounds, in term of high protein T content (60-70% on dry matter basis) with all essential amino acids (Farag et al, 2016), vitamins (B 12 and β-carotene), poly-unsaturated fatty acids (γ-linolenic acid), and minerals (Ca, Cr, K, Mg, Cu, Fe, Na, P, Mn, Zn and Se (Hoseini et al, 2013).…”

Trial on using of some herbal extracts as promising immunoprophylaxis feed additives in cultured Oreochromis niloticus

“…Natural additives as phytochemical herbs and some plant extracts might be used as promising dietary feed additives by both researchers and feed companies. They contain various active compounds like alkaloids, flavanoids, pigments, phenolics, terpenoids, steroids and essential oils with very potent growth promoting, immunostimulating and anti-microbial properties [5,6]. Among these plants, Onion (Allium cepa) and its flavonoid compounds have been used to accelerate the growth performance of fish beside their potential immunostimulants [7] antibacterial and antioxidant effects [8].The high soluble fiber content of onion could be used as prebiotic feed additive [9] Literature approved onion as one of the most effective immunostimulants that improvesthe innate immunity of juvenile Olive flounder (Paralichthysolivaceus) [10] Another plant is Barley (Hordeumvulgare), a member of the grass family, Poaceae, is one of the main M EDICINAL HERBS and some plant extracts are natural feed additives which have a great impact on fish health.…”

The Effect of dietary supplementation of Spirulina platensis and Chlorella vulgaris algae on the growth and disease resistance of the sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax)

“…The study conducted by Ayyappan et al (1991) clearly demonstrated the advantages of spirulina meals as additives in the diet for different carp species. The results of Abu-Elala et al (2016) indicate that adding spirulina to Nile tilapia diets significantly improves growth and food utilization in terms of FCR and PER as compared with the control group. In addition, Teimouri et al (2013) concluded that the inclusion of Spirulina platensis as a feed additive in the Nile tilapia diet may improve feed utilization and attributed that to the increment of gut bacterial colonization.…”