Effect of Mentha arvensis enriched diet to promote the growth and immune response of Clarias batrachus against Aeromonas hydrophila challenge

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of fish fed diet Mentha arvensis extract on growth performance, non-specific immunity and expression of some immune-related genes and resistance to Aeromonas hydrophila in Clarias batrachus. Five diets were formulated with 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4% of M. arvensis leaf extract. The results indicated that, compared to the control groups, 2-4% dietary inclusion increased growth and feed consumption. In the dietary inclusion of 3-4% M. arvensis extract groups were increased relative on weight gain, specific growth rate, RBC, WBC, total hemocyte counts, total protein, globulin than control. Fed diet supplements with 3% mintextract increased the total protein, WBC and globulin and phagocytic indexes and lysozyme activity increased at the 2, 3 and 4% of mint groups relative to the control. The PCR analysis showed that TNF, IL-1, MyD88, and TLRs were increased in the 2-4% fed diet M. arvensis extract groups than the control. These results suggest that 3% of M. arvensis extract significantly influences the immunomodulatory activity and immune-specific genes of C. batrachus.