Volume 433, 20 September 2014, Pages 50–61
Review
Use of plant extracts in fish aquaculture as an alternative to chemotherapy: Current status and future perspectives
Highlights
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- Disease management in aquaculture needs of more environmentally friendly methods.
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- There is an increasing use of plant extracts in aquaculture for disease control.
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- Use of plant extracts in aquaculture needs normalization to assure their efficacy.
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- Algae natural products present a huge potential in aquaculture disease treatment.
Abstract
Aquaculture
is the main source to increase fish supply. Fast development of
aquaculture and increasing fish demand lead to intensification of fish
culture, magnifying stressors for fish and thus heightening the risk of
disease. Until now, chemotherapy has been widely used to prevent and
treat disease outbreaks, although use of chemical drugs has multiple
negative impacts on environment and human health e.g. resistant
bacterial strains and residual accumulation in tissue. Hence, disease
management in aquaculture should concentrate on environmentally friendly
and lasting methods. Recently, increasing attention is being paid to
the use of plant products for disease control in aquaculture as an
alternative to chemical treatments. Plant products have been reported to
stimulate appetite and promote weight gain, to act as immunostimulant
and to have antibacterial and anti-parasitic (virus, protozoans,
monogeneans) properties in fish and shellfish aquaculture due to active
molecules such as alkaloids, terpenoids, saponins and flavonoids.
However, as it is a relatively emerging practice there is still little
knowledge on the long-term effects of plant extracts on fish physiology
as well as a lack of homogenization in the extract preparation and fish
administration of the plant extracts. This article aims to review the
studies carried out on the use of plant products on fish aquaculture and
their biological effects on fish such as growth promoter,
immunostimulant, antibacterial and anti-parasitic. It also intends to
evaluate the current state of the art, the methods used and the problems
encountered in their application to the aquaculture industry.
Keywords
- Plant extracts;
- Fish aquaculture;
- Disease resistance;
- Immunostimulant;
- Natural products
- Corresponding
author at: Centre de Recherches Insulaires et Observatoire de
l'Environnement, BP1013 Papetoai, 98729 Moorea, French Polynesia. Tel.:
+ 689 56 13 45; fax: + 689 56 28 15.
Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
