The dietary effect of medicinal herbs extract and multiple probiotics mixture on the growth performance, innate immune response and antibacterial activity of nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus

The study investigated the dietary effects of medicinal herbs extract and multiple probiotics mixture on the growth performance, innate immune response and antibacterial activity of nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus. Tilapia were divided in four groups. The first is a fish group fed a basal diet added with 40% medicinal herbs extract (MHE). The second is a fish group fed a basal diet supplied with 2×108 CFU/g of 2 Bacillus sp, 2 Lactobacillus sp and 2 Yeast sp, respectively (PB). The third group was fed with a mixture of probiotics (2 Bacillus sp, 2 Lactobacillus sp and 2 Yeast sp) with the medicinal herbs extract added in basal diet (MHE+PB). The fourth group was fed only a basal diet (C). In a non-specific immune parameters analysis, respiratory burst activity, lysozyme activity, phagocytic activity (PA), alternative complement pathway activity (ACH50) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity were significantly (p 0.05) was observed between PB and MHE only treated group. Compared to the control, a significant antibacterial difference (p 0.05). The results suggest that the probiotics and MHE mixture could be utilized as an alternative to antibiotics in the control of fish diseases caused by E. tarda.