Author(s): Gehan IE Ali, El-Keredy MS Abeer, Abeer M El-Shenway, Nehal AA Naena and El Gohary MS

Abstract: The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of dietary thyme, cinnamon and/or Bacillus subtilis probiotic supplementation on growth performance, biochemical parameters, antioxidant activity and protection against Aeromonas hydrophila infection of Oreochromis niloticus. Total number of two-hundred and ten O. niloticus fish were used in our work (60 fish for isolation of Aeromonas hydrophila and 150 fish for experimental growth trial were allotted into six equal groups, fed on basal diet supplemented by 0.0 or with 10 g thyme or cinnamon herb/kg diet without or with 0.1g Bacillus subtilis probiotic /kg diet respectively for 8 weeks and, subsequently, challenged with A. hydrophila previously isolated from local Nile tilapia farms. Obtained data revealed that thyme or cinnamon supplementation significantly (P˂0.05) improved total gain, daily gain, gain%, SGR%, total feed intake and FCR throughout the whole experimental period compared with control. Bacillus subtilis supplementation alone or with thyme herb supplementation in Nile tilapia fish diet improved total gain, daily gain, gain%, SGR%, total feed intake and FCR, however Bacillus subtilis supplementation with cinnamon non-significantly reduced the mentioned parameters compared with fish group fed on the same diet without Bacillus subtilis supplementation. Moreover, it was noticed that thyme or cinnamon supplementation increased serum total protein, globulin, SOD and CAT levels and reduced serum ALT, AST, uric acid and creatinine concentrations compared with control, while Bacillus subtilis supplementation alone or with thyme herb supplementation in Nile tilapia fish diet increased serum total protein, globulin, SOD and CAT levels and reduced serum ALT, AST, uric acid and creatinine concentrations and opposite result obtained with cinnamon and probiotic addition compared with fish group fed on the same diet without Bacillus subtilis supplementation. Inclusion of thyme or cinnamon herbs without or with Bacillus subtilis supplementation in Nile tilapia fish diet reduced mortality% and Aeromonas hydrophila re-isolation rate compared with control and the best value obtained by fish group fed on diet supplemented by thyme with probiotic or thyme alone. It could be concluded that using thyme with probiotic or alone good due to their high effective growth promoting, antibacterial and positive impact on liver and kidney functions and antioxidant enzymes activities, also using of cinnamon had good antioxidant and antibacterial activity. This study highly recommends the use of thyme and/or probiotic as therapeutic and protective agents in dealing with Aeromonas hydrophila infection in fish culture.

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