Effects of Essential Oil Derived from the Bitter Orange (Citrus aurantium) on Growth Performance, Histology and Gene Expression Levels in Common Carp Juveniles (Cyprinus carpio).

Ümit Acar,Osman Sabri Kesbiç,Burak Evren İnanan,Fahriye Zemheri-Navruz,Francesco Fazio,Vincenzo Parrino,Funda Terzi,Sevdan Yılmaz

doi:10.3390/ani11051431

Abstract

The aim of this study was to detect effects of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) essential oil, commonly called neroli oil (NO) (0, 0.25, 0.50, 1, and 1.5% referred to as NO0 NO0.25, NO0. 05, NO1 and NO1.5, respectively) on growth performance output and expression levels of some growth-related genes in the muscle tissue and some immune-related genes in the head kidney and pathological differences in digestive system organs of common carp Cyprinus carpio. The NO0.25 group had a large improvement in growth efficiency at the end of the 60-day feeding cycle. Real-time PCR (Bio RAD, USA) system was used to detect variations in gene expression levels. Furthermore, NO supplementation of up to 0.25% in muscle tissue controlled the release of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Furthermore, in the NO0.25 treatment category, immune response gene levels TNF-α, IL-8 and IL-1ß increased in head kidney tissue. In the histological examination of the liver and intestine, there were significant differences between fish fed with N1 and N1.5 diets. This study confirms that dietary supplementation of NO up to 0.25% can improve common carp growth efficiency and increase the expression of genes (GH and IGF-I) related to muscle growth, TNF-α, IL-8 and IL-1ß genes related to immune status, and liver and intestine histological status of common carp.

Highlights

Regarding the advancement of intensive aquaculture systems, one of the most critical issues of aquaculture has been to protect the fish from diseases while harvesting the maximum amount of product per farm unit
Due to the promising results found in laboratory animal studies, and the rich bioactive content of neroli oil (NO), this research aimed to investigate the effects of NO on common carp, one of the most commonly developed breeding organisms in the world
The fish fed NO0.25 had the highest growth efficiency, which was found to be statistically distinct from the control group

Summary

Introduction

Regarding the advancement of intensive aquaculture systems, one of the most critical issues of aquaculture has been to protect the fish from diseases while harvesting the maximum amount of product per farm unit. Researchers believe that improving fish feed quality could be the most efficient approach to this issue, and there has been research into high performance feeds for a long time. Several synthetic feed additives, especially antibiotics, have been applied to fish feeds to protect the feed quality, and protect fish from potential diseases and environmental problems [1]. It has been identified that the long-term application of antibiotics and related synthetics leads to the development of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms [1]. Extracts collected from various sections of different citrus species inhibit oxidative stress [5], increase development [6] and strengthen the immune system [7]

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