ABSTRACT
As an environmentally friendly alternative to antibiotics, bee venom holds promise for aquaculture due to its diverse health advantages, including immune-amplifying and anti-inflammatory features. This study investigated the effects of dietary bee venom (BV) on the growth and physiological performance of Thinlip mullet (Liza ramada) with an initial body weight of 40.04 ± 0.11 g for 60 days. Fish were distributed to five dietary treatments (0, 2, 4, 6, and 8 mg BV/kg diet) with three replicates. Growth traits, gut enzyme ability (lipase, protease, amylase), intestinal and liver histology, blood biochemistry, immune responses [lysozyme activity (LYZ), bactericidal activity (BA), nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT%)], and antioxidant status [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), malondialdehyde (MDA)] were evaluated. BV supplementation significantly improved growth performance, digestive enzyme activity, histological integrity of organs, immune responses (LYZ, BA), and antioxidant status (SOD, CAT, GPx), while declining MDA levels. Optimal BV levels were identified between 4.2 and 5.8 mg/kg diet for different parameters. Overall, the findings suggest that BV supplementation can enhance growth and physiological performance in Thinlip mullet, highlighting its potential as a beneficial dietary supplement for fish health and aquaculture management.
ABSTRACT
The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of CoQ10 dietary supplementation on growth performance, feed utilization, blood profile, immune response, and oxidative status of Nile tilapia (12.4 ± 0.11 g, initial body weight). Five experimental diets were formulated containing CoQ10 at levels of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 mg kg-1 diet (D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5, respectively). The results of a 56-days feeding trial showed that, significantly higher weight gain % (WG %), specific growth rate (SGR), feed intake (FI), and feed efficiency ratio (FER) were recorded in fish groups fed diets supplemented with different levels of CoQ10 than fish fed the control diet, while survival rate (SR%), condition factor (CF), hepatosomatic index (HSI) and viscerasomatic index (VSI) showed no obvious differences (P > 0.05) among all experimental groups. The highest activities of digestive enzymes (protease, amylase, and lipase) were recorded in D3, D4, and D5 groups. Moreover, blood status of all experimental fish was within normal rates and significant alterations were only in the case of glucose, cortisol, total cholesterol (T-Chol), triglycerides, and total protein (TP), where fish fed on D3, D4 and D5 diets exhibited lower values of glucose, cortisol, T-Chol, and triglycerides and higher values of TP. Furthermore, the lowest values of immune response [lysozyme, bactericidal, respiratory burst (NBT), and alternative complement pathway activities (ACP)], antioxidant capacity and oxidative related genes expressions [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX)] resulted from feeding on the basal diet (D1) compared to CoQ10 diets, especially with its high levels {≥20 mg kg-1 diet (D3, D4, and D5)} in most cases. In conclusion, our results suggest that the use of ≥20 mg CoQ10 kg-1 diet improves the growth and health being of Nile tilapia.
