The current study investigated the effects of dietary curcumin nanoparticles (C-NPs) on the performance, hemato-biochemical profile, digestive enzymes activities, antioxidant status, humoral immunity, and liver and intestinal histology of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus). Fish (4.3 ± 0.5 g) were fed with diets enriched with 0.0 (control), 15, 30, 45, and 60 mg C-NPs/kg diet up to apparent satiety thrice a day for 60 days. The growth-stimulating effects of dietary C-NPs were significantly observed in terms of final weight, weight gain %, specific growth rate, and feed intake. Compared with the control group, serum amylase, lipase, and proteases activities of Nile tilapia significantly (P < 0.05) increased alongside the increase in dietary levels of C-NPs in a dose-dependent manner. The counts of red blood cells and white blood cells as well as hemoglobin and hematocrit levels of Nile tilapia fed with 30–60 mg C-NPs/kg diet were statistically (P < 0.05) higher than fish in the control group with no significant differences among them (P > 0.05). Moreover, lymphocytes and monocytes significantly (P > 0.05) increased; meanwhile neutrophils significantly (P > 0.05) decreased as C-NPs levels in diets increased. In a similar trend, antioxidant (malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase) and humoral immunity (lysozyme and total immunoglobulin) biomarkers were significantly higher in C-NPs-fed fish. Liver histology showed improvements in the cell architecture of fish fed with C-NPs containing diets up to 45 mg/kg diet. Compared with the control diet, feeding Nile tilapia with C-NPs diets resulted in a higher villi length/width and absorption area. According to the regression curves, the current study recommends using the dietary C-NP with optimum values of 45–55 mg/kg diet to improve the performance, digestive enzymes, antioxidant activities, and immunity response of Nile tilapia.

The probiotics are being used as ecofriendly and bioremediation tools for developing sustainability to aquaculture. The present study was conducted to explore the practical capability of using dietary lactic acid bacteria (Pediococcus acidilactici) probiotics and see how its dose variation affected the water quality, growth performance, survival rate, body composition, blood biochemical parameters, and intestinal histology of European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax L.). A total of 120 fingerlings with an initial weight of 9 ± 0.2  g were divided into four groups, each with three replicates. The feeding experiment lasted for 60 days. In addition to the control (without probiotics) (T0), fish were fed diets containing (T1) 2.0, (T2) 2.5, and (T3) 3.0 g of probiotics per kg of diet twice a day. When compared to the control, sea bass fed probiotic-supplemented diets had significantly higher growth parameters, fish body “crude lipid,” and villi height ( p < 0.05 , p < 0.01 , and p < 0.001 ). The P. acidilactici probiotic treatments improved survival rate, feed conversion ratio, body composition, and blood biochemical markers, but not statistically significant ( p > 0.05 ). Also, in regard to water quality, P. acidilactici drastically reduced ammonia and pH levels. In this experiment, fish fed with a dosage of 3.0 g of this commercial probiotic per kg of probiotics performed better. The study found that including probiotics in the diets of European sea bass improved growth, body composition, survival rate, blood biochemical markers, intestinal histology, and some water quality parameters.

The study aims to investigate the potential effect of nanocurcumin as feed additive in the diet of Oreochromis niloticus to improve its growth performance, health status and resistance against Aspergillus flavus. The control group was fed on a basal diet without nanocurcumin, and four diets T1, T2, T3 and T4 were supplemented with 10, 25, 40 and 55 mg/kg of nanocurcumin, respectively, in triplicate (20 fish/replicate). The duration of the feeding trial was 60 days. The final body weight, weight gain, specific growth rate and survival rate showed significantly (p < 0.05) increased values in the nanocurcumin groups than the control. Fish fed with nanocurcumin supplementation showed improvement in RBCs, haemoglobin, total protein, albumin and globulin while there was a decrease in the liver enzymes (AST and ALT), glucose and alkaline phosphatase. The creatinine was also decreased in fish fed nanocurcumin. The digestive enzymes amylase and lipase increased in the nanocurcumin‐treated groups, and the triglycerides values showed non‐significant increase, whereas the cholesterol values showed non‐significant decrease in T1 and T4. Meanwhile, the cortisol was nearly the same in all groups. At the end of the trial, the fish were challenged with Aspergillus flavus for 15 days. Aspergillus flavus resulted in the mortality of 100% of the control group and the groups with lower doses of nanocurcumin (T1 and T2) within the first week and second week post challenge respectively. In the treatments with high doses (T3 and T4), higher survival rates were recorded in a dose‐dependent manner. The pathogenicity of Aspergillus flavus was confirmed histopathologically. It was concluded that the dietary supplementation of nanocurcumin enhanced the health status of O. niloticus by improving the haemato‐immunological response and body composition parameters of the fish, and protected it from the Aspergillus flavus infection with optimum inclusion levels of 25–40 mg/kg diet.

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The potential effects of dietary supplementation with β-1,3 glucan and fructooligosaccharides (β-1,3 GF) on antioxidant activities, immunological response, and growth performance of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) was investigated. Four diets (iso-energetic and iso-nitrogenous) with different levels of β-1,3 GF (0, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 g kg−1) were fed to healthy shrimp juveniles weighing 3 ± 0.5 g for 75 days. Shrimps were randomly distributed into 12 net enclosures at a density of 30 shrimp/net, and the experiment was performed in triplicate. The results revealed that long-term supplementation with 1.5 g kg−1 β-1,3 GF significantly improved shrimp weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and digestive enzyme profiles compared to the control diet group. However, there were no substantial variations in the contents of moisture, crude protein, total lipids, and ash in the muscles of shrimp fed on different diets. Surprisingly, all antioxidants (superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione peroxidase) and immune biomarkers (lysozyme, total hemocyte count, phenol oxidase, and respiratory burst) activities were significantly elevated with increasing levels of β-1,3 GF in the shrimp diet, and the highest values were recorded in the 1.5 g kg−1 diet groups. Challenge test results revealed that F. solani could cause a high mortality rate (86.7%) in a group fed a normal basal diet within 14 days at a dose of 5 × 104 conidia mL−1. Surprisingly, all dietary treated groups with different doses of β-1,3 GF showed high resistance against F. solani, represented by lower cumulative mortality rates (20–43.3%) compared to the control group. Moreover, most of the infected shrimp showed a typical black to brown gill lesion similar to that observed in the natural infection, where an identical fungus was successfully re-isolated from infected gills and muscles. Overall, this study recommends an appropriate incorporation level of β-1,3 GF that could enhance growth performance and improve the antioxidant activities, non-specific immunity, and disease resistance of L. vannamei, with an optimal level of 1.5 g kg−1.

The positive effects of feeding nano-curcumin and Spirulina platensis on O. niloticus's growth performance, hepatoprotective ability, antioxidant response, immunity, digestibility, and organ histopathology were predicted by this study. Nile tilapia fingerlings (n = 180 fish; 10 ± 0.5 g) were divided into three groups (three replicates/group) and fed diets containing zero percent (control), 30 mg kg-1 curcumin nanoparticles (Cu-NPs group), and 5 g kg-1 Spirulina platensis (SP group). Growth performance, haematological, antioxidant, biochemical, and immunological markers plus histological changes were evaluated after the feeding study lasted 56 days. Our results revealed that Cu-NPs and SP have favorable effects on carcass composition, growth performance, hematological, and biochemical parameters. Moreover, Cu-NPs and SP supplementation significantly elevated serum Ig M level (p < 0.01, p < 0.05), lysozyme (p < 0.001), amylase (p < 0.05, p < 0.01), lipase (p < 0.05) and protease (p < 0.01) activities unlike the control group. Additionally, significant elevation of SOD (p < 0.001) and GPx (p < 0.01, p < 0.05) activities with diminished MDA (p < 0.001, p < 0.01) production was noticed in SP and Cu-NPs groups compared to control one. Overall, diets supplemented with Cu-NPs and SP effectively improved the growth performance, hepatic function, immune response, and antioxidant impacts in Nile tilapia fingerlings.

This investigation aimed to improve the hatchery seed production strategy in terms of chronologies of embryonic and larval development as well as hatching, growth and survival rates, and rearing water quality of green tiger prawn, Penaeus semisulcatus by the integration effects of different water temperatures (23 °C, 26 °C, 29 °C, 32 °C) and probiotic as water additives. The best and shortest chronologies of embryonic development stages were in favor of 32 °C with probiotic. The best hatching rate was in favor of 29 °C with probiotics. The fastest larval development and greatest larval growth as total length until PL1 stage was promoted by 32 °C with probiotic but the best survival rate was recorded at 26 °C with probiotic followed by 29 °C with probiotic treatment. During larval development, the lowest value of NH4–N was recorded under the effect of 26 °C and probiotic. Therefore, probiotics as water additives at 29 and 32 °C water temperatures have a beneficial impact on the hatchery seed production strategy and quality of P. semisulcatus. Our findings could apply to rearing larvae in shrimp hatchery to decrease the chronology of embryonic and larval development, while increase the hatching rate, growth performance, and survival rates as well as improving the water quality.

This study investigated the impacts of water application of a commercial Bacillus species probiotics, SANOLIFE®PRO-W (containing Bacillus subtilis and B. licheniformis), on water quality, digestive enzymes, growth performance, antioxidants, innate immunity, body composition, and resistance of whiteleg shrimp against Fusarium solani infection. A total of 240 animals (2.00 ± 0.07 g) were stocked into twelve 1-m3 concrete ponds and divided into four triplicate treatments. For 56 days, the rearing water was supplemented with Bacillus species probiotic at 0, 0.01, 0.02, and 0.03 g/m3 and defined as control, T1, T2, and T3 groups, respectively. Results revealed that Bacillus species probiotics increased dissolved oxygen and decreased total ammonia, nitrite, and unionized ammonia in the rearing ponds. However, adding probiotic Bacillus to rearing water significantly increased the digestive enzyme (chymotrypsin, trypsin, protease, lipase, and amylase) and growth performance parameters compared to the control. On the other hand, the antioxidant levels of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase were increased significantly, while the malondialdehyde concentrations were decreased significantly compared to the control. Furthermore, Bacillus probiotics boosted the innate immunity of shrimp manifested by increased activities of lysozyme, prophenoloxidase, respiratory burst, and the total hemocyte count compared with the control treatment. Of interest, shrimp mortalities decreased after F. solani infection to 35% in the T3 group compared to 100% in the control group. In conclusion, water application of Bacillus species probiotics, especially at 0.02 and 0.03 g/m3, improved the water quality, welfare, and resistance of whiteleg shrimp to F. solani infection.