Some effects of dietary medicinal herbs mixture (HM), Massa medicata fermentata, Crataegi fructus, Artemisia capillaries, and Cnidium officinale, in the proportions 2:2:1:1 were identified in juvenile Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus. In an 8-week feeding trial, fish were fed with 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0% HM in a moist diet composed of horse mackerel and an artificial diet in equal parts. Fish fed the diets with 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0% HM showed higher weight gain and feed efficiency than fish in 0.1 and 0% HM feed groups. No significant differences were found in survival, feed intake, final carcass proximate composition, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, plasma total cholesterol level, and alanine aminotransferase activity among the dietary treatments. Fish fed with 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0% HM showed higher total carcass unsaturated fatty acid content and docosahexaenoic acid (22:6n-3) level, and plasma high density lipoprotein-cholesterol level, but lower carcass saturated fatty acid content and plasma aspartate aminotrasferase activities than the control group. Moreover, a 10-min air exposure test with five times repeat, and an anesthesia test for 2 min with 200 p.p.m. 2-phenoxyethanol, also revealed lower mortality and lower recovery time in 0.3, 0.5, and 1.0% HM groups than the control group at the end of the trial. These results indicate that the medicinal herb mixture is useful to improve growth, fatty acid utilization, and stress recovery in the Japanese flounder.KEY WORDS: growth performance, Japanese flounder, medicinal herb, n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acid (n-3 HUFA), stress recovery.

The effects of dietary medicinal herbs on growth and some non-specific immunity were investigated in juvenile red sea bream Pagrus major. The fish (mean body weight 24.0 Ϯ 0.2 g) were fed fishmeal diets supplemented with either Massa medicata (Mm), Crataegi fructus (Cf), Artemisia capillaries (Ac), Cnidium officinale (Co), or a mixture of all the herbs (HM), and a control diet without medicinal herbs, for 12 weeks. Survival, specific growth rate, feed efficiency, condition factor and hemoglobin levels were higher in fish given herbal diets than fish given the control diet without herbs. Significantly higher serum high density lipoprotein-cholesterol level and lysozyme activity were detected in HM and Co diet groups, and alternative complement pathway activity was detected in the HM diet group. However, significantly lower serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities were obtained in all herbal diet groups compared with the control diet group. Pathogen challenge test by intraperitoneal injection of Vibrio anguillarum indicated that highest survival was obtained in the HM diet group followed by Ac, Co, Cf, and Mm diet groups. The lowest survival was obtained in the control group. These results reveal that medicinal herbs in diets enhance growth and some non-specific immunity of red sea bream.KEY WORDS: growth performance, medicinal herbs, non-specific immunity, red sea bream.

The effect of dietary medicinal herbs on lipid metabolism and stress recovery was investigated in red sea bream Pagrus major. Fish (mean body weight 24.0 ± 0.2 g) were fed on test fish meal diets supplemented with either Massa Medicata (Mm), Crataegi Fructus (Cf), Artemisia capillaries (Ac), or Cnidium officinale (Co), or with a mixture of the four herbs (HM) for 12 weeks. A control group was fed a diet without herbs in the same manner. A high survival rate was observed in the herbal diet groups. The final mean body weight, feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio, and apparent protein and lipid retention in the Ac, Co, and HM groups were higher than those in the control and Mm groups. Final carcass, hepatic lipid and triglyceride contents, and plasma triglyceride and nonesterified fatty acid levels were lower in the Ac, Co, and HM groups compared to those of control and Mm groups. However, final hepatic phospholipid, plasma phospholipid, and high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels were higher in the Ac, Co, and HM diets groups than in the control and Mm groups. The Cf, Co, Ac, and HM groups showed faster recovery time in the 2-phenoxyethanol anesthesia test and a higher recovery rate in the 10-min air exposure test than those of the control and Mm groups. Moreover, the Cf, Ac, Co, and HM diet groups had a significantly lower plasma cortisol level than the control and Mm diet group, but the glucose level in the herbal diet groups was higher than that in the control group after a 1-h air exposure. These results indicate that the addition of medicinal herbs to the fish diet improved lipid utilization and stress recovery in red sea bream.

The e¡ects of the dietary medicinal herbs Massa medicata, Crataegi fructus (Cf), Artemisia capillaries, Cnidium o⁄cinale and their mixture (HM), on growth and resistance againstVibrio anguillarum were examined using larval red sea bream, Pagrus major. The methanol extracts of Cf and HM inhibited the proliferation of seven infectious bacterial strains including the genera Aeromonas, Edwasiella, Photobavterium, Pseudomonas and Vibrio. Rotifers enriched with emulsi¢ed bonito oil containing extracts of Cf and HM lowered the bacterial counts in their body on TCBS medium for the genus Vibrio in comparison with rotifers enriched by emulsi¢ed bonito oil alone. Although statistically not signi¢cant, larvae fed rotifer forti¢ed with Cf from 3 to 20 days after hatching showed the best growth and ¢nal body weight followed by those given rotifer with HM and control enrichment. However, ¢nal body length of larvae fed rotifer with Cf was signi¢cantly larger than larvae fed on rotifers enriched with other herb extracts. After a challenge test withV. anguillarum, survival of larvae fed rotifer with Cf and HM was signi¢cantly higher than for the control treatment. These results revealed that Cf and HM in rotifer is useful to promote growth and resistance against V. anguillarum in red sea bream larvae, providing a new technology for mass production of disease-resistant fry and ¢ngerlings.

Red sea bream Pagrus major (RSB) weighing 0.09 g were fed on test diets, composed of 65% fish meal supplemented with 0.49% Crataegi fructus (Cf) and a mixture of Massa medicata, Cf, Artemisia capillaries and Cnidium officinale (HM) or a control diet without herbs, in trial 1. After air exposure and anaesthesia treatment, higher stress tolerances were obtained in herbal groups than control group. Moreover, after challenge test with Vibrio anguillarum, mortalities of the herbal groups were lower than the control group. There was no significant difference in growth performance among the treatments. Feed efficiency (FE) of the test groups was 124-141%. In trial 2, RSB weighing 0.11 g were fed on diets composed of 35% fish meal and 30% enzyme treated fish meal (EFM) with the same herbal treatments as trial 1. The herbal groups revealed higher final body weight and specific growth rate (SGR) and lower daily feed intake than those of the control group. The FE of test groups was 172-203%. These results indicate that the dietary herbs supplementation acts not only as recovery enhancer for some rearing stresses but also as growth enhancer, which is accelerated with dietary EFM in the early juvenile stage of red sea bream.