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Effects of dietary Yucca meal on growth, haematology, non‐specific immune responses and disease resistance of juvenile Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Author(s) -
Njagi Grace W,
Lee Seunghan,
Won Seonghun,
Hong Jeongwhui,
Hamidoghli Ali,
Bai Sungchul C
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
aquaculture research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.646
H-Index - 89
eISSN - 1365-2109
pISSN - 1355-557X
DOI - 10.1111/are.13264
Subject(s) - oreochromis , nile tilapia , biology , aeromonas hydrophila , lysozyme , juvenile , meal , immune system , hematology , zoology , medicine , food science , fishery , immunology , biochemistry , fish <actinopterygii> , ecology
A 10‐week feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of dietary yucca meal supplementation on growth, haematology, non‐specific immune responses and disease resistance in juvenile Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus . Six isonitrogenous and isoenergetic experimental diets were formulated to contain 0% (YMS 0 ), 0.1% (YMS 0.1 ), 0.3% (YMS 0.3 ), 0.5% (YMS 0.5 ), 1% (YMS 1.0 ) and 2% (YMS 2.0 ) dietary yucca meal on the dry weight basis. Results of this study showed a higher growth performance for YMS 0.1 group with significant differences with YMS 0.5, YMS 1.0 and YMS 2.0 groups. In addition, whole‐body protein content of fish fed the YMS 0.1 diet was significantly higher as compared to YMS 0 . Plasma lysozyme activity significantly increased in YMS 0.1 group comparing to YMS 0 and YMS 0.5 groups. Respiratory burst activity of phagocytic blood cells was significantly enhanced when fish were fed the YMS 0.1 diet. Results also showed that yucca meal supplementation had moderate effects on glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase and cholesterol levels. After the 14‐day challenge test with Aeromonas hydrophila , cumulative survival of fish fed YMS 0.1 diet was significantly higher than that of fish fed diet YMS 0 , YMS 1.0 and YMS 2.0 . These results suggest that the optimum dietary yucca meal inclusion level in the diet of juvenile Nile tilapia could be between 0.1% and 0.14% (23.9~33.4 mg kg −1 saponin) as a feed additive to promote growth, enhance the non‐specific immune responses and increase disease resistance.