Nutritional Effect of Using a Bioactive Mixture (Lemon, Onion and Garlic) on Growth Performances, Feed Utilization, Immune Status and Gene Expression of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Abozaid, Hesham; Elnadi, Ali; Mansour, Hayam; Aboelhassan, Dalia M; Awad, Elham; El‑Nomeary, Yasser; Omar, Hamed A.A.; Abbas, Wafaa Tawfik; Farag, Ibrahim M.

doi:10.21608/ejvs.2024.266900.1814

Nutritional Effect of Using a Bioactive Mixture (Lemon, Onion and Garlic) on Growth Performances, Feed Utilization, Immune Status and Gene Expression of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Animal Production, Agricultural and Biology Institute. National Research Centre, 33 El-Bohouth Street, P.O:12622, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

² Department of Animal Production, Agricultural and Biology Institute. National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt.

³ Department of Cell Biology, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt.

⁴ Department of Cell Biology, Biotechnology Institute, National Research Centre, Egypt

⁵ : Department of Hydrobiology Department, Veterinary Research Division, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, 12622, Egypt.

⁶ Animal Production Department, National Research Centre, 33

⁷ Assistant professor in hydrobiology department, Veterinary Science Devision, National Research Center.

⁸ Department of Cell Biology, Biotechnology Research Institute, National Research Centre, Giza, Egypt.

10.21608/ejvs.2024.266900.1814

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of a lemon, onion, and garlic (LOG) juice mixture on the Nile tilapia health and productivity including; growth performance, feed utilization, body composition, immune status and gene expression of IGF-1, IGF-2, and GH genes. 120 fish were randomly distributed among 12 tanks into four groups before fed with different iso-nitrogenous and iso-caloric diets, containing 0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, or 1.5% of LOG juice for 56 days. The results revealed significant improvements in growth performance, especially specific growth rate in all LOG groups compared to the control. Moreover, a significant increase has been recorded in crude protein percentages in fish body composition. Energy retention (ER)% and protein productive value (PPV)% displayed substantial increases in all experimental groups. Moreover, AST and cholesterol levels were significantly higher in the 1.5% LOG group than the other groups. Immune parameters including lysozyme activity, antiprotease activity and total protein increased in 0.5% LOG and 1% LOG groups compared to the control. Furthermore, the dietary interventions led to a significant up-regulation of growth-related genes expression, compared to the control group, especially for IGF-1 and GH. This study demonstrates the efficacy of the bioactive mixture (LOG) in improving the Nile tilapia health; growth performance, and growth-related gene expressions and immunity. The study results recommended using LOG as a growth promoter, especially with a dose of 1.5% LOG.

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