Impact of dietary curcumin administration along with feed-born silver nanoparticle on growth, hemato-biochemical parameters, and digestive enzyme activity of common carp (Cyprinus carpio).

This research explored the impacts of feed-born silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and whether dietary curcumin supplementation could ameliorate the impacts of AgNPs on growth, hemato-biochemical parameters and digestive enzyme activity. Nine experimental diets were prepared containing 0.00, 0.05, and 0.15 g kg-1 AgNPs, as well as 0.00, 0.75, and 1.50 g kg-1 curcumin in a factorial design. Triplicate groups of common carp (4.82 ± 0.41 g) were fed on the test diets for 60 days. The results demonstrated that AgNPs reduced growth performance and enhanced the feed conversion ratio dose-dependently. Supplementing 0.75 g kg-1 curcumin at a low AgNP level improved the growth rate, while its inclusion at a high AgNP level led to further suppression of growth performance. The highest hematocrit value, hemoglobin concentration and white blood cell count were recorded in the group receiving 0.75 g kg-1 curcumin. Serum glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were elevated by increasing AgNP levels. However, curcumin inclusion, particularly at the lower level of AgNPs significantly decreased their values. Similarly, intestinal alkaline protease and lipase activities were progressively reduced by increasing dietary AgNP contents, but, significant improvements were observed by curcumin application at the lower AgNP level. Our results revealed that curcumin supplementation could limit the toxic effects of lower dietary AgNP contents.

Dietary peppermint (Mentha piperita) powder affects growth performance, hematological indices, skin mucosal immune parameters, and expression of growth and stress-related genes in Caspian roach (Rutilus caspicus).

Peppermint is a popular herbal medicine due to its several pharmaceutical applications. In this study, peppermint powder was used as a feed additive to evaluate growth performance, hematological parameters, protein profile of skin mucus, and immune parameters, as well as growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and 70 kDa heat shock protein (HSP70) gene expression in Caspian roach (Rutilus caspicus). The fingerlings (average weight of 2.40 ± 0.12 g) were fed with diet containing 0 (control), 2, 3, and 4 g/kg peppermint for 8 weeks. The addition of peppermint significantly enhanced the growth parameters and decreased the food conversion ratio. Hematological indices of fish fed with peppermint-supplemented diets were significantly different from the control group (P < 0.05). Soluble protein, alkaline phosphatase, and lysozyme enzyme activity in mucus samples showed an incremental trend by increasing the peppermint levels in the diet. Evaluation of mucosal immunity indicated a remarkable difference between the protein profile in treatments fed with peppermint-supplemented diets and the control group. A new protein band (approximately 27 kDa) was also found in the skin mucus of fish fed with the diet containing 4 g/kg peppermint, and the highest band density was observed in this treatment. The highest IGF and GH gene expression were observed in 4 g/kg peppermint treatment. There was a significant difference in HSP70 expression between the fish fed with peppermint powder and the control group (P < 0.05). Overall, the results showed that dietary oral administration of peppermint at 4 g/kg of feed can act as a growth promoter and immunostimulant.