Published Paper Details:

Aquaculture is an excellent, explorable avenue for a state like Kerala in India. Unplanned growth of aquaculture farms in developing countries created unsustainable environmental problems. Consequently, the emphasis of aquaculture has shifted from maximizing production to sustainable production with minimum damage to environment. Oreochromis mossambicus is an economically important species, due to its sturdy, fast growth, attractive size and better meat quality, this species is gaining prominence in culture fisheries. The roots of Withania somnifera are used to prepare medicinal Ashwagandha. Ayurvedic system of medicine recommends it for a number of human health problems. The main constituents of Ashwagandha are alkaloids and steroidal lactones, withaferine being the important alkaloid and withanolids, being the major steroidal lactones. . The present study investigates the growth promotion and immunomodulatory potentials of Withania somnifera supplemented diet on Oreochromis mossambicus, Fish belonging to the size group 6.2 + 0.01 cm length and 3.4 + 0.05 gm weight were used for the experiment. Medicated feeds were prepared at 0.5% concentration. The fishes were fed twice daily at 10% body weight. The culture continued for six months. On every second and fourth week fishes were terminated for various assays such as growth parameters, biochemical, hematological and microbiological parameters. The findings are reported in the paper.