The increasing demand for seafood leads to the significant growth of aquaculture, however the reduction of land-water availability ratio, requires intensifying the culture system. This scenario needs to face certain technical problems as oxygen depletion, generation of high amount of nitrogen waste, large concentrations of fish in confined environment. These factors act as a stressors to the animals, and affect in negative ways physiological and zootechnical parameters like growth ratio, immune system response, and the risk of disease outbreaks.
Is understood by adaptogen a nontoxic substance and especially a plant extract that is held to increase the body’s ability to resist the damaging effects of stress and promote or restore normal physiological functioning. Botanicals are nowadays considered to be safe additives that can be included in diets to improve the health and performance of animal as well as fish (Le et al., 2016; Fawole et al., 2016).
The objective of this study, carried out in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), was to evaluate the effect of three nutraceutical compounds on growth, blood parameters, immune response, and liver health before and after the challenge with the bacteria Aeromona Hydrophila.
The results obtained during the study, show that the addition of nutraceuticals PIM1 and PIM 3 enhanced the zootechnical parameters, improved Nile tilapia survival against Aeromona hydrophila infection by increasing innate immunity and antioxidant response. The liver histology and lower CRP value revealed that PIM 1 and PIM 3 have the capacity to confer certain level of protection on the hepatic tissue of Nile Tilapia against pathogen aggression.