Growth performance, anti-oxidative status, innate immunity, and ammonia stress resistance of Siganus rivulatus fed diet supplemented with zinc and zinc nanoparticles

[Display omitted] •The effect of dietary supplementation of different zinc forms was investigated on rabbitfish, Siganus rivulatus.•Growth performance and anti-oxidative status of Siganous rivulatus improved with organic and nanoparticles zinc forms.•The innate immune response significantly improved with organic and nanoparticles zinc forms.•The resistance of S. rivulatus against ammonia was improved with dietary zinc supplementation. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of different Zn sources on growth performance, anti-oxidative status, immune response, and ammonia stress resistance of marbled spinefoot rabbitfish, S. rivulatus. The fish were fed four experimental diets in triplicate per treatment−1 for eight weeks. The first diet was control (without Zn supplementation), the other three treatments included supplementation with 30 mg kg−1 zinc oxide (ZnO), Zn-Methionine (Zn-Met), and ZnO-nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs). The results revealed a significant improvement in growth performance and protein utilization with Zn-Met and ZnO-NPs supplemented treatments compared to the control and ZnO groups. There was a significant decrease in malondialdehyde content, and a significant increase in catalase, superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in all Zn supplemented groups. The lysozyme and phenoloxidase activities improved significantly with both ZnO-NPs and Zn-Met. Also, the electrophoretic investigation coupled with cluster analysis showed different distribution patterns of protein bands among treatments and the highest similarity was seen with ZnO and ZnO-NPs. The tolerance of S. rivulatus against an ammonia challenge was increased with Zn-Met and ZnO-NPs supplementation. In conclusion, supplementation with Zn-Met and ZnO-NPs is better than ZnO for improving growth performance, the anti-oxidative status and innate immune response of rabbitfish, S. rivulatus.