Optimizing the Effects of Dietary Tridax Procumbens leaf Extract on Growth Performance, Antioxidant Activity, Immune Response, and Disease Resistance Against Aeromonas Hydrophila in Labeo rohita

Author(s): Shweta Priyadarshini Dash, Sasmita Mohanty, B Prince, Pushpa Choudhary, Chinmayee Muduli, Arabinda Das, Priyabrat Swain, Sudhansu Sekhar Mishra

Asian ayurvedic herb Tridax procumbens (TP) has long been used for therapeutic purposes. However, the effects of TP on Labeo rohita remain ambiguous. Consequently, the present study investigated the impact of T. procumbens leaf extract (TPLE) on the growth performance, immune response, and disease resistance in the Indian major carp, Labeo rohita, across four treatment groups, followed by an anti-infection treatment against Aeromonas hydrophila. Fish were fed a basic diet fortified with 0%, 0.2%, 0.4%, and 0.8% of TPLE for 60 days. The results of this study demonstrate that the TLE0.4 and TLE0.8 diets considerably outperformed the control group in terms of growth performance, total protease, α-amylase activity, respiratory burst activity, lysozyme activity, myeloperoxidase activity, mucus, and serum bactericidal activity (P<0.05). Furthermore, the TLE0.4 and TLE0.8 extract-fed groups showed a significant decrease (P<0.05) in glucose content and a notable increase (P<0.05) in total protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, and superoxide dismutase compared to the control group. Moreover, the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, TNFα), antioxidant molecules (SOD, GPx, catalase), and pattern recognition molecules (TLR 22) was significantly upregulated by TLE0.8 supplemented diet. In contrast, the expression of cytokines such as IL-8, IL-10, and TGF-β was downregulated. The relative percentage of survival (RPS) analysis revealed that the TLE0.4 and TLE0.8 diet-fed groups had 83.30% and 77.73% of survival, respectively. Thus, our study demonstrated that incorporating TLE0.8 and TLE0.4 into the diets of L. rohita would enhance growth performance, antioxidant activity, immune response, and disease resistance against A. hydrophila infection.