Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

TRYPTOPHAN MODULATES PHYSIOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN CHANNEL CATFISH Ictalurus punctatus IN STRESSED AND DISEASE CONDITIONS

Sammie Miller1* , Abdullahi Idowu1, Lindee Mason1, Isaac Wendel1, Conrad Anderson2, Timothy Bruce2 and Ahmed Mustafa1.

 

1Department of Biological Sciences , Purdue University Fort Wayne ,  Fort Wayne,

IN 46805 . Email: mustafaa@pfw.edu

2School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences , Auburn University , Auburn, AL 36849 . Email: tjb0089@auburn.edu

 



 Physiological changes in fish in response to stress are generally interpreted as an indication of the severity of a stressor as well as a reflection of the capacity of a species of fish to manage a particular level of stress. In farmed fish, an increased level of continuous stress culminates into eventual decrease in disease resistance as well as reduced growth rate. Biologists are well familiar with these physiological responses of fish to stress various investigations on using nutraceuticals in modulating physiological stress responses are ongoing.  In this study, we tried to observe the effects of tryptophan, an essential amino acid, in modulating physiological processes in Channel catfish , Ictalurus punctatus, raised in stressed and a diseased conditions with virulent  Aeromonas hydrophila (vAh). In particular, we have checked levels of blood glucose and hematocrit , before and after the disease challenge with  virulent  Aeromonas hydrophila (vAh; ML09-119). We had 4 different experimental groups : (1)  control fish fed with control feed,  (2)  control fish fed with tryptophan-treated feed;  (3) stressed fish fed with control feed; and  (4)  stressed fish fed with tryptophan- treated feed.  After five weeks of feeding, we challenged the catfish with vAh and kept the fish in the challenged condition for 72 hours.  Our preliminary results showed that catfish fed with tryptophan-fed feed had considerably improved levels of blood glucose and hemtocrit ,  both in the stressed and diseased conditions.  Further research is being conducted to optimize the concentration of  Tryptophan  in  the feed in order to ascertain the potential immunomodulating properties of this essential amino acid.