Antioxidant, immunostimulant and renal protective activities of tri-herbal combination in African Sharptooth Catfish, Clarias gariepinus

Medicinal herbal feed that used as feed additives are widely applied in livestockproduction and may be applicable to aquaculture production systems. Thepresent study explores the modulatory effects of incorporation of herbalcombination of black cumin seeds (Nigella sativa), peppermint (Menthapiperita) and fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), on African Sharptooth Catfish,Clarias gariepinus. For this purpose, a total of 72 catfish were randomlydistributed into 6 groups of 12 fish each and fed on the experimental diets for 45successive days. Fish of first group were fed on basic diet only while, those ofthe second one were fed on basic diet supplemented with 0.5% from eachmedicinal plant while, other 4 groups were subjected to challenge experiment byinjection with Vibrio vulnificus. The third group was kept non-injected, fourthgroup was injected by saline, fifth and sixth groups were injected by Vibriovulnificus after feeding with basic diet and basic diet with herbs, respectively.Results proved that, total antioxidant capacity, serum total proteins, albuminsand globulins were observed to be significantly higher in the treated group ascompared to the control. Lymphocytes percent increased significantly in herbalfed group comparing to the control group while, neutrophils percent decreasedsignificantly. Although serum urea level was not affected by herbal supplement,serum creatinine level was decreased significantly. Body weight gain of C.gariepinus increased significantly after herbal administration. Catfish challengedwith a Vibrio vulnificus isolate and received the herbal diet showed lessmortality than the control group. Fish fed on the herbal diet exhibited normalhistological structure of liver, kidney and spleen. In conclusion, based on thecurrent results together with the low cost and the potential antioxidant andimmune effects of mixed herbal medicinal plants used in the study, it isrecommended to be used in fish feed to diminish the mortalities caused by someaquatic pathogens.