This study was conducted to determine the systemic, mucosal immunity and protective capacity of the feed‐based adjuvant vaccine (FAV) of Streptococcus agalactiae following oral vaccination against streptococcosis in tilapias. Two hundred and sixteen red tilapia fish were divided into three major groups. Each major group consisted eight tilapia kept in nine 2000 L glass aquaria. At day 0, all fish from the FAV group were fed with feed that had been incorporated with an adjuvant, while fish in the feed‐based vaccine (FNV) group were fed with vaccine incorporated into the pellet without adjuvant. Fish in the control‐unvaccinated group, FC, were fed with normal commercial pellet. Booster dose was performed on day 14 post immunization. Fish from each group were sacrificed on a weekly basis for the entire 7 weeks. Serum, body mucus and gut lavage fluid were evaluated for antibody responses by indirect ELISA, while histological examination was carried out on the gut following intraperitoneal challenge. The FAV group had a significantly higher protection (P < 0.05) following challenge with 3.4 × 109 CFU mL−1 of live S. agalactiae than FNV group. This level of protection may be due to high antibody responses, increase in size of gut‐associated lymphoid tissue and high number of lymphocytes in the FAV group.

A study was conducted on African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, to examine the apparent digestibility coefficient (ADC) of protein, dry matter, lipid, and energy, and the apparent availability coefficient (AAC) of essential amino acid (EAA) for a cricket meal (CM) diet, Gryllus bimaculatus, and fishmeal (FM). Both diets consisted of 30% isonitrogenous levels with a 70:30 ratio of basal diet to test ingredient. Chromic oxide (0.5%) was added to the diet as an inert marker. The ADCs of crude protein (CP) in CM (81.21%), lipid (89.82%), gross energy (64.42%), and dry matter (73.97%) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) than the value of CP (78.22%), lipid (82.03%), gross energy (56.52%), and dry matter (62.26%) in FM. All EAAs were present in both diets. The AACs for both diets ranged from 0.906 to 0.961 and 0.812 to 0.938 for the CM and FM diets, respectively. The growth performance of fish fed with CM exhibited significantly higher (P < 0.05) weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and protein efficiency ratio compared with FM. Overall, the results suggest that CM could be included in the African catfish diet without affecting their nutrient and amino acid digestibility as well as growth performance.

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Mushroom stalk waste (MSW) generated from the oyster mushroom industry is drastically increasing and safe disposal of MSW is becoming a critical issue worldwide. Mushrooms are an established, excellent source of nutraceuticals and antioxidants, and therefore MSW may confer similar effects when consumed. The severe deterioration of aquatic habitat may compromise the homoeostasis of antioxidative metabolism of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, which resulted in a reduced total production. Based on this paradigm, hot water extracts (HWE, 2-and 5-h) of MSW were evaluated as a supplement in fish feed and determined the effect on growth performance and the antioxidant status of Nile tilapia, O. niloticus, in vivo. The HWE 5-h contained significantly higher amounts of nutrient and b-glucan than HWE 2-h (P < 0.05). Four standardized in vitro antioxidant assays showed that HWE 5-h was a better antioxidant agent than HWE 2-h (P < 0.05). Tilapia fingerlings fed 5 g kg À1 HWE supplemented feed produced better (P < 0.05) growth and higher antioxidant enzyme activities than 10 g kg À1 HWE, CD and BD. Thus, HWE of MSW included at 5 g kg À1 may be beneficial to tilapia farming and may also provide a way of disposing the waste created by mushroom farming.