Abstract
Two dietary experiments were performed to evaluate the impact of the herb Mentha piperita as a dietary supplement on Catla catla. In Experiment 1, fingerlings (0.45–2.60 g) were fed on diets supplemented with M. piperita at different levels (P1, P2, P3, and P4 at 2, 4, 6, and 8 g Kg−1 of feed) and C1 served as the control with no peppermint supplementation. In Experiment 2, fingerlings (0.40–3.15 g) were fed with diets containing autochthonous probiotic bacteria Bacillus coagulans (3000 colony forming unit g−1) along with M. piperita (PP1-PP4 at 2, 4, 6, and 8 g Kg−1 of feed) and feed C2 served as control containing probiotics but no peppermint. Significantly (P < 0.05) high values of growth parameters, digestive enzyme activities, low reed conservation ratio, low excretion of ammonia, and orthophosphates were observed in fingerlings fed with P3 for Experiment 1 and PP3 for Experiment 2. Hematological counts, phagocytic activity, and respiratory burst activity were also enhanced in fingerlings fed with M. piperita supplementation revealing that dietary administration of peppermint at optimum level can enhance the growth, digestibility, and immunity of C. catla fingerlings; however, incorporation of B. coagulans showed better growth and immunity revealing that synergistic effects of M. piperita and autochthonous probiotic in C. catla diets can lead to its sustainable aquaculture.
Highlights
Intensification of aquaculture makes fishes more prone to outbreak of many infectious diseases
Studies were further undertaken and Bacillus coagulans CCI was isolated as autochthonous probiotic bacteria from the fish gut of Catla catla (Bhatnagar, Raparia, and Kumari, 2012) and evaluated that the effect of dietary incorporation of isolated Bacillus coagulans CC1 resulted in enhanced growth performance and nutrient retention when incorporated in fish diet at an optimum level (Bhatnagar and Raparia, 2014)
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tukey’s honest test revealed that weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), gross conversion efficiency (GCE), and apparent protein digestibility (APD) values were significantly (P < 0.05) high in all treatments in comparison to control with the highest value in dietary treatment P3
Summary
Intensification of aquaculture makes fishes more prone to outbreak of many infectious diseases. Many reported literature have proven that peppermint acts as an important feed additive for increasing growth performance and immune response as well as disease resistance for different fishes. Studies were further undertaken and Bacillus coagulans CCI was isolated as autochthonous probiotic bacteria from the fish gut of Catla catla (Bhatnagar, Raparia, and Kumari, 2012) and evaluated that the effect of dietary incorporation of isolated Bacillus coagulans CC1 resulted in enhanced growth performance and nutrient retention when incorporated in fish diet at an optimum level (Bhatnagar and Raparia, 2014). Plant extracts along with probiotics can strongly make an alternative way to replace synthetic immune stimulants and enhance the aquatic health leading to sustainable aquaculture.
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