Dietary supplementation of cumin (Cuminum cyminum) preventing streptococcal disease during first-feeding of Mozambique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus)

Abstract

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary cumin (Cuminum cyminum) powder (CP) as a feed additive on growth performance and disease resistance during first-feeding of Mozamique tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus). Five isonitrogenous (40% crude protein) and isocaloric (18.9 kj g-1) diets were formulated to contain 0 (control), 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2.0% CP. In a 45-day feeding trial, 15 plastic tanks (21 L) were stocked with 40 fry (0.012 ± 0.001 g) each. After feeding experiment, fish were infected with Streptococcus iniae and mortalities were recorded. The second-order polynomial regression indicated that a dietary CP level of 1.14% provided the best survival rate challenge infection with S. iniae, growth performance and feed utilization. In conclusion, CP can be used as growth promoter to improve feed utilization and weight gain in tilapia fry, and it can be also used as an antimicrobial agent during first-feeding of O. mossambicus. Therefore, CP can be suggested as an alternative to antibiotics in controlling streptococcal disease in tilapia culture.

Keywords

• disease
• fish
• cumin powder
• Streptococcus iniae
• tilapia