Effect of two medicinal herbs (Astragalus radix and Lonicera japonica) on the growth performance and body composition of juvenile pikeperch [Sander lucioperca (L.)]

The aim of this study was to determine the impact of feeding juvenile pikeperch diets with medicinal herb adjuvants on the growth performance, proximate body composition, fatty acids profile (whole fish, muscle tissues, viscera) and cytological and histological indicators of the liver and middle intestine. The fish (mean body weight of ca. 110 g) were fed diets with a 0.1% supplement of Astragalus radix (group A), Lonicera japonica (group L) or a mixture of these herbs ( A. radix + L. japonica ; group A/L) for 8 weeks. The herbal supplementation was not noted to have had an impact on the analysed indicators of fish growth performance, condition or feed conversion ratio ( P >0.05). Statistically significant intergroup differences were noted in the value of the hepatosomatic index, hepatocyte size, their nucleus and nucleus/cytoplasm diameter ratio ( P <0.05). Significant intergroup differences were also noted in the appearance of the hepatic parenchyma. Statistically significant intergroup differences were also noted in the protein content of the whole fish body. The analysis of the proximal composition of the fish viscera, in turn, indicated significant differences in the fat content ( P <0.05). Among the analysed group of fatty acids (saturated – SFA, monoenoic – MUFA, polyenoic – PUFA) contained in the whole fish, the fillets and the viscera, significant intergroup differences were noted with regard to SFA (viscera) and MUFA (whole fish) ( P <0.05). The total PUFA content was stable, although significant intergroup differences were noted with regard to a few of the acids that belong to this group ( P <0.05).