Immunomodulation of Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, by Nigella sativa and Bacillus subtilis

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the modulation of the immune system of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, by the black cumin seeds, Nigella sativa, or Bacillus subtilis PB6 (CloSTAT) as feed additives. Four diet regimes, a basic (control), CloSTAT, nigella, or combination of the black cumin seeds and CloSTAT were formulated and used to feed fish for 30 successive days. Half of the fish were used to investigate some of the immune parameters as serum globulins, white blood cell counts, and phagocytic activities and phagocytic indices. The other half of fish was subjected to infection challenge with Aeromonas hydrophila to investigate the disease resistance ability of the fish received the feeding additives. Results showed that the serum globulins have significantly increased in fish received the combination diet, while white blood cells have significantly increased in fish fed with nigella or combination ration. Phagocytic activities and indices of the fish fed the combination ration were significantly higher than those of the control groups. The mortality rate of fish fed with nigella or combination ration and challenged with A. hydrophila were significantly lower than those that received the basic diet. The current study clearly demonstrated that black cumin, CloSTAT or both can be used to modulate the immune system of Nile tilapia to the favour of resistance to diseases. replicates into sets and groups. Each replicate included two sets, where one set was used for evaluating the immune blood parameters of fish (blood set), while the other set was used for the challenge experiment (challenge set). Each blood set had four equal experimental groups that represent the 4 nutritional treatments (corresponding to the 4 diet variants). Thus, a control group received the basic diet, the second group received the CloSTAT diet, the third group received the nigella diet, while the fourth group received the combination diet. While each challenge set had the same four groups as the blood set and assigned as challenge groups. Each challenge set had 2 additional groups assigned as challenge control groups that received the basic diet and remained unchallenged as a control for the challenge experiment. Each group had 7 fish and was fed ad libitum with only one diet variant twice daily for 30 successive days. Immunomodulation of NileA total of 30 glass aquaria of 100 L capacity were used to conduct this study. Throughout the experiment, the temperature was maintained at 24°C and the dissolved oxygen level at 6.0-7.0 mg/L, while the pH levels were 7.2-7.5. Haematological studiesBy the end of the feeding experiment, fish of all groups of the blood sets were anesthetized using tricaine methanesulfonate (MS-222, Argent Chemical Labs, Redmond, Washington, USA). Blood samples were collected from the caudal vein of fish and were divided into two portions. One part was collected with 3% sodium citrate and used for white blood cells count or mixed with Candida albicans culture to assess phagocytic activity. The second po...

Protective efficacy of Nigella sativa seeds and oil against columnaris disease in fishes

“…Similarly, diets with 1%, 2% and 3% NSO fed for 14 days enhanced the immune response (lysozyme, antiprotease, total protein, myeloperoxidase, bactericidal activity and IgM titres) of rainbow trout (Awad, Austin & Lyndon 2013). It has been reported that feeding Nile tilapia with 3% NSS for 30 successive days significantly increased white blood cell counts and significantly decreased the mortality rate when fish were challenged with A. hydrophila compared to those that received the control diet (Elkamel & Mosaad 2012). However, our in vitro preliminary screenings did not detect an inhibitory effect for NSO against A. hydrophila isolates.…”

Dietary Black Seed Effects on Growth Performance, Proximate Composition, Antioxidant and Histo-Biochemical Parameters of a Culturable Fish, Rohu (Labeo rohita)

“…346-354) antistress [41] (pp. [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] and antioxidants [42] (pp. 277-284) in aquaculture practices.…”

“…The positive effects of dietary black seed have been shown on the growth performance, biochemical and immuno-haematological parameters of Carrasius auratus [22] (pp. 285-290), Oreochromis niloticus [23] (pp. 1-4), Lates calcarifer [24] (pp.…”