At the global level, infectious diseases have a major economic impact on aquaculture species associated with poor growth performance, mortalities and treatment costs. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in alternative natural ingredients for the development of novel functional feed to tackle these matters: organic acids, as well as botanicals and their chemically derived equivalents, nature-identical compounds, have been used as antimicrobials and additives improving feed efficiency and growth whilst exerting immunomodulatory support . T his trial aims to evaluate the effects of a microencapsulated functional additive (MFA) , AviPlus®Aqua, a blend of citric acid, sorbic acid, thymol, and vanillin on growth and feed efficiency of channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in grow-out farming conditions. The trial was set in a commercial farm located in Alabama, with f our In-Pond Raceway System (IPRS). The raceways, each 115 m2, were located in the same four hectares pond, sharing the same water with paddlewheels providing water movement and aeration . Each raceway was stocked with ⁓8,400 fingerlings (mean weight 38 g). Diets were formulated and manufactured in Alabama (28.0% protein, 2.5% crude fat and 7.0% crude fibre). Two diets, control and test diet, were tested in duplicates and both had the same formulation, but test diet included 0,15% of MFA AviPlus®Aqua applied with oil coating. Trial duration was 270 days (⁓9 months) and at the end of the trial all fish were harvested, weighted and survival and Feed Conversion Rate (FCR) were estimated. Final body weight (FBW) differe d highly with test diet recording higher growth compared to control (+37.5%), however survival showed no differences resulted in 92% aggregated for all treatments. Consequently, harvested biomass differed between treatments (+28.2%). FCR was influenced by the test additive too: diet with AviPlus®Aqua recorded 1.67 against 2.08 of control group (-19.4%). The results obtained in this farm trial supports the benefits observed in other fish species in the use of botanical-based functional feed, improving the overall health condition allowing the animals to use energy on growth raising efficiency in the utilisation of the feed. The data therefore support t he use of AviPlus®Aqua as a beneficial and feasible tool to improve the performance of channel catfish during the grow out months .