White Mulberry (Morus alba) Foliage Methanolic Extract Can Alleviate Aeromonas hydrophila Infection in African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus)

Two experiments were simultaneously conducted with Morus alba (white mulberry) foliage extract (MFE) as a growth promoter and treatment of Aeromonas hydrophila infection in separate 60 and 30 days trail (Experiments 1 and 2, resp.) in African catfish (Clarias gariepinus). In Experiment 1, four diets, control and control supplemented with 2, 5, or 7 g MFE/kg dry matter (DM) of diet, were used. In Experiment 2, fish were intraperitoneally infected with Aeromonas hydrophila and fed the same diets as experiment 1 plus additional two diets with or without antibiotic. Results of experiment 1 showed that growth was unaffected by dietary levels of MFE. Treatments with the inclusion of MFE at the levels of 5 and 7 g/Kg DM had no mortality. Red blood cells (RBC), albumin, and total protein were all higher for the treatments fed MFE (5 and 7 g/Kg DM). Results of experiment 2 showed RBC, hemoglobin, hematocrit, globulin, albumin, and total protein improved with the increase in MFE in the infected fish. The dietary MFE at the level of 7 g/kg DM reduced mortality rate. In conclusion, MFE at the level of 7 g/kg DM could be a valuable dietary supplement to cure the infected fish.