Description

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Chlorella vulgaris on growth performance, whole body composition, haematological and immunological responses, antioxidant enzyme activity, resistance against Fusarium oxysporum and tissue histopathology in hybrid red tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in a 70-day feeding trial. Two hundred and forty fish (initial weight 27 ± 3 g) were randomly distributed into twelve tanks and allocated to four isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets comprising 0 (CV0, control), 3 (CV3), 6 (CV6) or 9 (CV9) g C. vulgaris kg⁻¹ feed, in triplicate. Supplementation improved final body weight, weight gain, specific growth ratio, average daily gain, feed conversion ratio, biomass and survival in a dosage dependent manner with CV6 and CV9 groups exhibiting the best performance and no difference in feed intake among treatments. The inclusion levels slightly increased the total body crude protein and lowered the fat content. White blood cell counts; phagocytic activity, serum lysozyme activity and antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were raised with the rising levels of C. vulgaris. In a challenge with F. oxysporum (4.0 × 10³ conidia/mL) by intraperitoneal injection, cumulative mortality was significantly lower in the supplemented groups as compared to the control and histological analysis of liver and gill tissues revealed dose-dependent protection from lesions associated with the pathogen. To summarize, dietary C. vulgaris supplementation at 6–9 g/kg increased the growth, immunology, antioxidant defense and disease resistance of red tilapia, suggesting its use as a functional feed additive in more sustainable aquaculture.

URL

https://ejabf.journals.ekb.eg/article_524712.html

DOI

10.21608/ejabf.2026.512803.8336

Brief

KeyWords

Chlorella vulgaris Red tilapia Growth performance Immunity Antioxidant enzymes Fusarium oxysporum Histopathology