International Sturgeon Research Institute, Iranian Fisheries Science Research Institute, Agricultural Research Education and Extension Organization (AREEO), Rasht-Iran
This study was performed to evaluate the effects of two types of powdered extract Echinacea purpurea and Allium sativum on growth indices and survival rate of Huso huso during a two-month period. For this purpose, 210 juvenile with an average weight of 27.74 ± 0.26 g were randomly placed in 21 half-ton fiberglass tanks in seven different treatments with three replications, including a control group and three experimental groups of different amounts of E. purpurea powder extract (T1, T2 and T3: 250, 500 and 1000 mg kg-1) and three experimental groups of different amounts of garlic powder extract (T4, T5 and T6: 250, 500 and 1000 mg kg-1). At the end of the experiment, a statistically significant difference was observed between the treatments in the mean final weight, mean final length, final biomass, final production, fish weight gain, mean daily growth, body weight gain increase, specific growth rate and daily growth rate (p<0.05). These indices in the treatments had an increasing trend compared to the control and in T6 (1000 mg of E. purpurea powder extract per kg of food) which was significantly higher than in the other treatments (p<0.05). The feed conversion ratio in this treatment was also decreased significantly compared to other treatments (p<0.05). There was a significant difference in levels of ALP and LDH enzymes between treatments and control group (p<0.05). The highest level of ALP enzyme was in control group and T6, while the lowest level was in T4 (250 mg of E. purpurea powder extract per kg of food) (p<0.05). The highest level of LDH enzyme was observed in the control group and T6, however, the levels of ALT and AST enzymes were not significantly different between treatments and control group (p>0.05). The results showed that addition of 1000 mg turmeric powder extract per kg of food is more effective in improving growth indices.
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