Dietary phosphorus requirement of silver CARP (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) fingerlings.

The aim of this study was to determine the optimal dietary phosphorus (P) requirement and its effects on growth performance, body composition, mineralization and alkaline phosphate (ALP) activity in silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). A total of 360 fish with an average initial weight of 7.0 ± 0.15 g were divided into 18 tanks (70 L capacity each) with a stocking density of 20 fish per tank in triplicate. The fish were fed diets containing six levels of P (3.3, 4.4, 5.5, 6.5, 7.5 and 8.6 g/kg) up to satiation for 90 days twice daily at 09:00 and 16:00. The results showed that fish fed diets containing 6.5 and 7.5 g/kg dietary P had significantly higher (p < 0.05) growth performance in terms of final weight gain, average weight gain (AWG), weight gain% (WG%), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and specific growth rate (SGR) than fish fed other diets. The best value of the feed conversion ratio (FCR) was observed in fish fed the 6.5 g/kg P diet, which was not significantly different from the 7.5 g/kg P diet. Increasing P supplementation above 6.5 g/kg significantly reduced (p < 0.05) the feed intake of silver carp. Whole-body composition analysis indicated that increasing P levels resulted in a decrease (p < 0.05) in crude fat (CF) and an increase (p < 0.05) in crude ash (CA) content, while crude protein (CP) and moisture content remained unaffected (p > 0.05). Fish fed diets containing ≥6.5 g/kg P had significantly higher (p < 0.05) Ca content in the whole body, bones and scales compared to those fed diets containing ≤5.5 g/kg P. A similar trend was observed for P and Mg contents in the whole body, bones and scales. The Zn content tended to decrease (p < 0.05) with increasing P supplementation in the whole body and bones, but fish fed diets containing ≥6.5 g/kg P had significantly higher (p < 0.05) Zn content compared to fish fed diets containing ≤5.5 g/kg P. The Ca/P ratio was significantly affected by P supplementation. Fish fed diets containing ≥6.5 g/kg P had significantly higher (p < 0.05) Ca and P contents in the serum than fish fed other diets. ALP activity increased (p < 0.05) with increasing P levels up to 6.5 g/kg P and decreased (p < 0.05) thereafter. In conclusion, supplementing P up to 6.35 g/kg is recommended for the optimal growth of silver carp.

Interactive effects of temperature and protein levels on the growth performance, proximate composition, digestive enzyme activity and serum biochemistry of Labeo rohita.

The current study was performed to investigate the impact of different temperatures and protein levels on the growth performance, proximate composition and digestive and hepatic enzyme activities of Labeo rohita fingerlings. For this purpose, healthy fingerlings (average initial weight of 6.40 ± 0.02 g) were acclimatized for 15 days, then reared at three temperatures (25°C, 30°C and 35°C) and fed three levels of crude protein (25%, 30% and 35% crude protein (CP)) twice daily until satiation for 60 days. The results of the study revealed that the highest growth performance was observed in fish fed 35% protein and reared at 30°C. Similarly, fish reared at 35°C and 25°C water temperature showed comparatively better growth performance in fish fed with 35% protein. Furthermore, a significant enhancement in feed intake was observed with increasing culture temperature and increasing CP levels, but at 25°C, increasing CP levels significantly decreased the feed intake. Sligh variations were also observed in proximate composition in terms of moisture, CP, crude fat (CF) and ash contents in fish fed with different CP levels and reared at different temperatures. The hepatosomatic index and viscerosomatic index decreased significantly with increasing levels of protein and temperature. Amylase activities were significantly reduced with increasing culture temperature at each protein level. Increasing culture temperature did not affected the lipase activities. However, lipase activities were enhanced with increasing CP levels at 25°C and activities decreased with increasing CP levels at 30-35°C. Protease activity was enhanced with increasing temperature and CP levels. Significant increases were also observed in serum total proteins and liver functioning enzymes such as alkaline phosphatase, alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase in response to increased temperature, and protein had a reciprocal effect. It is concluded that increasing the CP levels increased the growth performance independent of temperature. However, similar growth performance at 30 CP (30°C) and 35 CP (35°C) indicates that L. rohita requires more protein at higher temperature for optimum growth.

Black cardamom (Amomum subulatum) extract improves growth potential, antioxidant status, immune parameters and response to crowding stress in Catla catla.

Natural herbs are excellent alternatives to synthetic compounds to enhance the growth performance and health status of fish. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of black cardamom (Amomum subulatum) extract (BCE) as an herbal supplement in improving the growth, antioxidant status, haematology, and serum biochemistry of Catla catla. The acclimatized fish (N = 900; average initial weight = 14.44 ± 0.33 g) were allocated into five groups (60 fish/group in triplicate) in hapas (4 × 2 × 2.5 ft) and provided with feed containing 0 (control), 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 g/kg BCE for 90 days before being subjected to 8 days of crowding stress. After 90 days, significantly higher feed utilization and growth were observed in all BCE-fed treatments compared to the control; however, the maximum values of these parameters were noted in the 2 g/kg BCE-fed treatment. Moreover, the BCE-fed groups exhibited a significant increase in antioxidant indices (glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase and catalase), with a significant reduction in malondialdehyde levels, indicating a higher antioxidant capacity compared to the control. Significant improvements in haematological parameters, such as an increase in haematocrit, haemoglobin and red blood cells and a decrease in white blood cells, were observed in BCE-fed treatments compared to the control. Furthermore, BCE-fed groups showed a significant decrease in serum glucose, cortisol and triglycerides, while total protein, globulin and albumin levels were significantly higher compared with the control. During the feeding trial of 90 days, no mortality was observed; however, the lowest cumulative mortality was noted in the 2 g/kg BCE group after crowding stress of 8 days. In conclusion, the use of BCE in feed can enhance the growth performance, antioxidant status, haematology, and serum biochemistry of C. catla and improve the resistance against crowding stress. The optimum levels of BCE for C. catla were estimated based on weight gain % (1.78 g/kg; R2 = 0.97), feed conversion ratio (1.65 g/kg; R2 = 0.98), MDA content (1.66 g/kg; R2 = 0.93) and serum lysozyme activity (1.72 g/kg; R2 = 1) using broken-line regression analysis.

Effects of Zinc-Gluconate Levels on Growth Performance, Whole-Body Composition, and Mineral and Enzyme Activities of Juvenile Mori (Cirrhinus mrigala).

Zinc (Zn) is an important dietary nutrient for the optimum growth performance, feed efficiency, normal metabolism, and fish health. Unfortunately, Zn requirement for mori (Cirrhinus mrigala) is not available. This experiment was designed to assess the impacts of Zn-gluconate levels on growth performance, feed utilization, mineral composition, and enzyme activities of mori and determines the optimum requirement of Zn-gluconate for this species. For this purpose, seven isonitrogenous (29.18%) and isolipidic (10.71%) purified diets were formulated with graded Zn-gluconate levels (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 mg/kg). A total of 525 juveniles (4.30 ± 0.13 g) were distributed in 21 tanks. All treatments were assessed in triplicates. At the end of the trial (90 days), a progressive increase in final weight (FW) was observed in mori fed with 0-40 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate, remained constant at 50 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate, and significantly decreased at 60 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate. Similarly, weight gain and specific growth rate followed a similar pattern, while weight gain% increased till 40 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate. However, further increase (40-60 mg/kg) had a non-significant effect on weight gain%. Diet supplemented with 40 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate resulted in optimum values for feed intake and feed conversion ratio. Supplementation of Zn-gluconate did not affect dry matter, crude fat, and crude ash at all graded levels. However, whole body crude protein was significant in response to Zn-gluconate supplementation. Furthermore, Zn-gluconate absorption enhanced from 0 to 40 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate and remained constant afterward. Whole body mineral activity also followed a similar pattern. Overall, Zn-gluconate supplementation enhanced (P < 0.05) mineral activity in all parts of the tested parts of mori, including bones, scales, skin, eyes, heart, liver, and kidney. Moreover, the highest (P < 0.05) mineral activity in the skin, heart, liver, and kidney was observed in 60 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate. Supplementation of Zn-gluconate significantly increased the activity of alkaline phosphatase while it reduced thiobarbituric acid reactive substance contents of mori. The optimal dietary requirement of Zn-gluconate was recorded as 43.86 mg/kg through broken-line regression for maximum weight gain% of mori juveniles. Conclusively, 40 mg/kg of Zn-gluconate supplementation significantly enhanced the health of C. mrigala. However, a further increase in Zn-gluconate supplementation from 40 to 60 mg/kg did not significantly improve the above-mentioned parameters.

Evaluation of dietary selenium methionine levels and their effects on growth performance, antioxidant status, and meat quality of intensively reared juvenile Hypophthalmichthys molitrix.

The objective of this study was to optimize the organic selenium (Se) requirements of intensively reared silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix). A total of n = 300 juveniles silver carp 11.40±0.52 cm long, and average weighing 25.28±0.18 grams were randomly assigned to 15 aquaria (20 fish/100L aquaria) and subjected to five different dietary Se levels in a completely randomized design. The diets were pelleted supplemented with exogenous Se methionine @ 0.0, 0.3, 0.6, 0.9 and 1.2 mg/kg of the diet. The fourteen days of aquaria acclimatization was given to fish and then an 84-day feeding trial was conducted. The group supplemented with 0.9 mg/kg Se had greater feed intake, gain in length, body weight %, and specific growth rate with a better feed conversion ratio as compared to those fed on the rest of the dietary levels or control (P<0.05). The deposition of Se was greater in the liver, and kidneys of the fishes fed on diets containing 0.9 and 1.2 mg Se levels than in the rest of the treatments (P<0.05). However, dietary Se levels had no effects on the bioaccumulation of Se in muscle tissues (P>0.05). The proximate analysis showed that dry matter, crude protein, and fat contents of meat were not changed (P>0.05) by dietary treatments. Similarly, values of TBARS, RBCs, Hb, and blood glucose contents were similar (P>0.05) across the treatments. However, the concentration of WBCs, HCT, and MCHC was greater in those groups fed on 0.9 and 1.2 Se levels than in those fed on 0.6, 0.3, and 0.0 Se levels respectively (P<0.05). The activities of ALT, AST, and ALP were lowered in the 0.9 mg Se supplemented fishes compared with the rest of the treatments (P<0.05). The SOD, catalases, and GPx levels for muscle, liver, and whole body were greater (P<0.05) in the Se-supplemented groups than in the control. These outcomes indicated that up to 0.9 mg/kg inclusion of methionine-based Se in the diet of juvenile silver carp improved the growth performance, feed conversion ratio, organs Se enrichment, and antioxidant status without any compromise on meat quality.

Efficacy of Probiotics Supplementation on Growth Performance, Carcass Composition and Hematological Parameters of Cyprinus carpio Fingerlings Fed Corn Gluten Meal-Based Diet

Abstract Plant based protein sources are one of the best, cost effective and easily available protein sources being used in fish feed. But due to a lower number of micro-biota in fish gut plant meal based diets cannot be digested and absorbed well in fish body. Probiotics were supplemented at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 gkg-1 levels in fish feed for formulating one control and five test diets. In this study, three replicates of each treatment were used and number of fingerlings was 15 in each replicate. The C. carpio (common carp) fingerlings were fed at 5% of live wet weight on their prescribed diet twice daily. The results revealed that supplementation of probiotics in corn gluten meal based diets significantly (p<0.05) improved growth performance, carcass composition and hematological parameters. Most optimum values of growth performance parameters were noted at 2 gkg-1 level of probiotics supplemented diet. C. carpio fingerlings fed corn gluten meal based diet supplemented with 2 gkg-1 level of probiotics indicated significant (p<0.05) improvements in crude protein (17g) crude fat (9g) and gross energy (3 kcalg-1) whereas higher red blood cells (RBCs), white blood cells (WBCs) and hemoglobin (Hb) was also recorded in fish blood when fed 2 gkg-1 probiotics level diet. From these results, it was concluded that 2 gkg-1 probiotics supplementation in corn gluten meal based diet is optimum for improving growth performance, body composition and hematology of C. carpio fingerlings.

Fish-Pak: Fish species dataset from Pakistan for visual features based classification.

Fishes are most diverse group of vertebrates with more than 33000 species. These are identified based on several visual characters including their shape, color and head. It is difficult for the common people to directly identify the fish species found in the market. Classifying fish species from images based on visual characteristics using computer vision and machine learning techniques is an interesting problem for the researchers. However, the classifier's performance depends upon quality of image dataset on which it has been trained. An imagery dataset is needed to examine the classification and recognition algorithms. This article exhibits Fish-Pak: an image dataset of 6 different fish species, captured by a single camera from different pools located nearby the Head Qadirabad, Chenab River in Punjab, Pakistan. The dataset Fish-Pak are quite useful to compare various factors of classifiers such as learning rate, momentum and their impact on the overall performance. Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is one of the most widely used architectures for image classification based on visual features. Six data classes i.e. Ctenopharyngodon idella (Grass carp), Cyprinus carpio (Common carp), Cirrhinus mrigala (Mori), Labeo rohita (Rohu), Hypophthalmichthys molitrix (Silver carp), and Catla (Thala), with a different number of images, have been included in the dataset. Fish species are captured by one camera to ensure the fair environment to all data. Fish-Pak is hosted by the Zoology Lab under the mutual affiliation of the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Zoology, University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan.

Engineering enzyme-coupled hybrid nanoflowers: The quest for optimum performance to meet biocatalytic challenges and opportunities.

The current industrial revolution signifies the high-value of biocatalysis engineering. Over the past decade, multiple micro- and nanostructured materials have been attempted for immobilization of enzymes to improve their catalytic properties. Conventional immobilization strategies result in improved stability, while insolubilized enzymes generally lost their activity compared to free counterparts. Recently, a new generation organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflowers with unique properties have received great attention as a novel and incentive immobilization approach owing to their simple fabrication, high biocatalytic efficiency, and enzyme stabilizing capability. The hybrid nanoflowers biocatalytic system implicates metal ions and biomolecules (enzymes). In contrast to free or conventionally immobilized enzymes, single enzyme or multi enzyme-incorporated flowers-like hybrid nanoconstructs demonstrated elevated catalytic activities and stabilities over a very broader range of experimental conditions, i.e., pHs, temperatures and salt concentration. This review discusses the recent developments in the fabrication strategies to diversifying nanoflowers, types, characteristics, and applications of organic-inorganic hybrid nanoflowers as a host platform to engineer different kinds of enzymes with requisite functionalities for biocatalysis applications in different sectors of the modern world. Based on experimental and theoretical literature data, the review is wrapped up with concluding remarks and an outlook in terms of upcoming challenges and prospects for their scale-up applications.

Physiochemical characteristics and bone/cartilage tissue engineering potentialities of protein-based macromolecules - A review.

Protein-based macromolecules such as keratin, silk fibroin, collagen, gelatin, and fibrin have emerged as potential candidate materials with unique structural and functional characteristics. Despite many advantages, the development of tissue-engineered constructs that can match the biological context of real tissue matrix remains a challenge in tissue engineering (TE). The tissue-engineered constructs should also support vascularization. Protein-based macromolecules, in pristine or combine form, provide a promising platform to engineer constructs with unique design and functionalities which are highly essential for an appropriate stimulation and differentiation of cells in a specific TE approach. However, much work remains to be undertaken with particular reference to in-depth interactions between constructed cues and target host tissues. Thus, modern advancements are emphasizing to understand critiques and functionalization of protein-based macromolecule that organize not only cellular activities but also tissue regenerations. In this review, numerous physicochemical, functional, and structural characteristics of protein-based macromolecules such as keratin, silk fibroin, collagen, gelatin, and fibrin are discussed. This review also presents the hope vs. hype phenomenon for tissue engineering. Later part of the review focuses on different requisite characteristics and their role in TE. The discussion presented here could prove highly useful for the construction of scaffolds with requisite features.

TiO2/UV-assisted rhodamine B degradation: putative pathway and identification of intermediates by UPLC/MS.

The present study was designed to evaluate the photocatalytic degradation of Rhodamine B (Rh-B) in a self-assembled TiO2-assisted system under UV light irradiation. Chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon and high-performance liquid chromatography analyses confirmed the elevated Rh-B degradation level. A stepwise meticulous breakdown pathway based on the ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry is proposed. Results demonstrated that the degradation of Rh-B mainly occurred via N-de-ethylation process, and N-de-ethylated intermediate products were further oxidized into acids and alcohols. Reduction in toxicity of the dye by the formation of metabolites was measured using human cell lines (MTT assay) and toxicity tests based on shrimp Artemia salina. Noticeably, the degraded intermediates of Rh-B revealed low or non-toxicity than the original dye molecule. Therefore, it can be inferred that the TiO2-assisted photocatalysis could be beneficial for the degradation of recalcitrant compounds and textile wastewater effluents, and for the elimination of toxicity therein.