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¹ Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Kaposvár University, Kaposvár, Hungary
² Department of Zoology, University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India
³ Research Institute for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Irrigation, Szarvas, Hungary DOI : 10.4194/1303-2712-v15_1_18 Viewed : 5890 - Downloaded : 5984 The effects of the isoflavone genistein and methanol extract of Basella alba leaves were evaluated in Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus on growth and immunostimulation. Adult tilapia (mean weight 39.55 g) was fed diets containing genistein (1 gm/kg) and methanol extract of B. alba (1 g/kg) for 35 days. Basella alba extract treated tilapia showed significantly higher (P<0.05) weight gain, respiratory burst, phagocytic activity, plasma protein content and plasma lysozyme activity compared to fish fed control diet. The B. alba extract treated fish showed the highest final individual mean body weight, final individual length, specific growth rate, hepatosomatic index and total immunoglobulin content. The phagocytic and respiratory burst activities of genistein treated fish were significantly higher (P <0.05) compared to the control group. The weight gain, lysozyme activity and total protein content of genistein treated fish did not differ significantly (P>0.05) from both control and B. alba treated fish. There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the food conversion ratio as well among the different treatment groups. The study indicates that B. alba methanol extract might positively influence the growth and protect the health status of tilapia. Keywords : Basella alba, Genistein, Growth, Immunostimulation, Nile tilapia