Effect of White Button Mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) on Immunity and Haematological Parameters of Oreochromis niloticus

ABSTRACT Nowadays, many challenges are facing by the fish farmer like infections (viral, bacterial and fungal) and environmental stress. Different drugs have been used against several infections, but sometimes they produce toxic effect in fish body and deteriorate the water quality, which in turn decrease the output of the aquaculture. To overcome these issues, herbal products are used in aquaculture and these are the perfect immune stimulator, antibiotic alternative and growth promotor. The current research was conducted to assess the effect of variant level of Agaricus bisporus on immunity and haematological parameters of Oreochromis niloticus. A total of 120 healthy fishes with average weight 24.0 ± 12.5g were distributed randomly into four fiber glass tanks in triplicates (each tank contains 10 fishes). The experimental diet was prepared with variant concentration of mushroom such as 0% (control group) and 2%, 4% and 6% of extractions for the other three groups. Duration of the experimental work was six weeks. Water quality parameters including temperature was 29 ± 0.5, DO: 5.7 ± 0.04 and ph: 7.5. Results revealed that the 6% Agaricus bisporus has shown higher lysozyme activity and ACh50 level, while no significant enhancement was observed in Ig. Beside this all the haematological parameters including WBC, RBC, hb, hct and differential leucocyte was observed higher in all the groups as compared to control group. It was concluded that 6% Agaricus bisporus can be use as immune-stimulant, and can help the farmers to overcome the emerging aquaculture problems.