Effect of Black Cumin Seed Oil (Nigella sativa) on Enhancement of Immunity in the Climbing Perch, Anabas testudineus

Aims: The study was conducted to examine the efficacy of dietery black cumin seed oil (Nigella sativa) on the immune response of climbing perch, Anabas testudineus against A. hydrophila.
Place and Duration: This experiment was performed in the Laboratory of Fisheries and Marine Bioscience (FMB), Jessore University of Science and Technology (JUST), on July to December 2013.
Methodology: Fish husbandry and experimental design, Culture and Aeromonas hydrophila Isolation, Diet Preparations, Serum preparation (immune response assay), Growth performance, bactericidal activity, phagocytic activity and challenge test have been performed in this study.
Results: Climbing perch (Anabas testudineus) of average weight 25±5 g were fed for 1, 2 and 4 weeks with diet supplemented 20 ml (20%), 30 ml (30%) and 40 ml (40%) 100 g-1 of N. sativa oil and with normal diet as control (0%). Immunological parameters including bactericidal activity and phagocytic activity were investigated. Treatment groups recorded enhancement in those parameters compared to the control. Treatment groups fed the dose 30% N. sativa oil showed a significant enhancement in bactericidal activity and phagocytic activity. The highest weight gain (WG) 41.7±1.5 was significantly increased with the 30% dose of N. sativa oil but specific growth rate (SGR) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) did not change significantly when compared to the control. Feeding with 30% dose diet to A. testudineus showed lowest cumulative mortality 20% compared to other dose diets and played most effective performance during challenge test.
Conclusion: This result suggests that 30% dose of N. sativa oil enriched diet significantly enhanced the immune response and disease resistance of A. testudineus against A. hydrophila.