Use of Medicinal Plants in Aquaculture

Abstract

Plants have been reported to produce various effects such as antistress, growth promotion, appetite stimulation, immunostimulation, aphrodisiac and to have antipathogen properties in fish and shrimp aquaculture due to their varied active principles such as alkaloids, terpenoids, tannins, saponins and flavonoids. To date, most scientific studies on the use of medicinal plants in aquaculture have focused on identification of biological activity rather than natural product determination. The plant species that have displayed the highest potential for use in aquaculture are garlic (Allium sativum), pomegranate (Punica granatum), bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), Indian ginseng (Whitania somnifera) and ginger (Zingiber officinale). Algae are considered to be a rich source of original bioactive molecules which display multiple bioactivities. In aquaculture, several recent studies have showed the potential of algae for the treatment of pathogens or to improve fish fitness.

Moving towards more sustainable aquaculture practices: a meta‐analysis on the potential of plant‐enriched diets to improve fish growth, immunity and disease resistance

“…Research on the use of medicinal plants and their derived extracts in aquaculture has exploded during the last years, with nowadays, hundreds of articles studying the effects of oral plant administration on fish growth, health and immunity (reviewed in Reverter et al 2017;Sutili et al 2018). Plant-enriched diets have been reported to increase growth, improve feeding efficiency, improve haematological parameters, enhance immune parameters (e.g.…”

Growth performance, immune response and disease resistance of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fedThymus vulgarisessential oils

“…Moreover, medicinal herbs have been applied in the traditional medicine to inhibit and treat diseases in human as well as animal models (Khodadadian Zou, Hoseinifar, Kolangi Miandare, & Hajimoradloo, ; Sofowora, Ogunbodede, & Onayade, ). The application of medicinal herbs has recently received more attention not only as the growth promotors but also as immunostimulatory substances (Ardo et al, ; Dügenci, Arda, & Candan, ; Hai, ; Rao, Das, Jyotyrmayee, & Chakrabarti, ; Reverter, Bontemps, Sasal, & Saulnier, ; Yin et al, ). Due to easy preparation, the cost‐effectiveness, and reduction of the side effects, there has been a growing interest worldwide the use of medicinal plants such as herbs and plant extracted compounds (Hai, ).…”

Urtica dioica (Stinging Nettle): A Neglected Plant With Emerging Growth Promoter/Immunostimulant Properties for Farmed Fish

“…In fact, when added to diet, they have proven to be effective in a dose dependent manner in stimulating their immune system and improving growth performances (Harikrishnan et al, 2011 ; Chakraborty et al, 2013 ; Van Hai, 2015 ; Vallejos-Vidal et al, 2016 ). According to Reverter et al ( 2017 ) plants belonging to the order Lamiales (family Lamiaceae ) are the most studied for their application in aquaculture, and had the highest number of species displaying immunostimulant activity. However, U. dioica , a polyvalent plant belonging to the order Rosales, that has a long history of traditional medicinal uses in many countries in the world (Ahmed and Parasuraman, 2014 ), seems to possess unexpected biological properties useful also for aquaculture.…”