Abstract

Background:
The aquaculture industry is actively seeking alternatives to antibiotics to improve fish's growth, immunity, and overall health. Natural products have been found to contain specific metabolites with immunomodulatory properties.

Aim:
The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of dietary dimethyl itaconate (DMIC) on growth, feed utilization, blood hematology and metabolites, antioxidant capacity, and inflammation biomarkers of Nile tilapia following an Aeromonas hydrophila infection.

Methods:
Over 56 days, the fish (20.97 ± 0.33g, n=200) were fed a basal diet supplemented with different levels of DMIC: 0 (DMIC0), 50 (DMIC50), 100 (DMIC100), and 200 (DMIC200) mg/kg of diet.

Results:
All the groups receiving DMIC showed improved growth indices (FBW, SGR, WG) and feed intake compared to the untreated group (p0.05). The fish fed with DMIC exhibited significantly improved levels of glutathione, RBCs, neutrophils, hemoglobin, and hematocrit in their blood (p

Key words: Dimethyl itaconate; Fish; Performance; Health; Immunity and inflammation.