article · Fishes
Chronic exposure to the herbicide oxyfluorfen harms the growth, survival, and physiological health of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus. Fingerlings exposed to oxyfluorfen for sixty days showed stunted growth, reduced survival, impaired blood profiles, and disrupted antioxidant status. Herbicide exposure also caused hepatorenal damage, DNA damage, and immunosuppression, alongside lowering resistance to the parasite Quadriacanthus aegypticus. However, supplementing the diet of the catfish with five percent wormwood, Artemisia cina, counteracted many of these harmful effects. The dietary supplement reduced the negative impacts on growth, restored biochemical and antioxidant balance, lowered stress indicators, and repaired altered immune-related gene expressions. Additionally, wormwood supplementation improved the survival rate of catfish when challenged with parasite infection following herbicide exposure, showing that dietary wormwood can protect catfish from chronic herbicide toxicity.
Agricultural runoff introduces toxic herbicides into aquatic ecosystems, directly undermining freshwater aquaculture productivity and fish health. Demonstrating that chronic herbicide exposure increases parasite vulnerability and weakens fish physiology highlights critical environmental hazards. Finding that dietary natural additives like wormwood can counteract these toxic impacts provides practical options to improve fish welfare, disease resilience, and survival in areas vulnerable to agrochemical contamination.
This work indicates potential applications for aquafeed manufacturers and aquaculture producers seeking functional feed formulations to mitigate pesticide toxicity. By incorporating five percent Artemisia cina into commercial fish diets, operators could protect catfish stocks against agricultural runoff and secondary parasitic infections. The study provides applied experimental findings from controlled trials, meaning further farm-scale testing and economic feasibility assessments are needed before commercial use.
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The present study evaluated the impact of chronic herbicide (oxyfluorfen; OXY) exposure on catfish, Clarias gariepinus, in terms of growth, hematobiochemical parameters, immune response, antioxidant- and immune-related gene expression, and resistance to monogenean parasites, Quadriacanthus aegypticus. In addition, the protective role of Wormwood, Artemisia cina (AC) against OXY exposure through diet inclusion was also analyzed. The catfish fingerlings were exposed to OXY (1.16 mg/L) for 60 days and fed diets without AC supplementation (control) and with 5% AC supplementation. The results demonstrated that exposure to OXY stunted growth; decreased survival, erythrograms and leukograms, serum protein, and acetylcholinesterase; and negatively altered the antioxidant status. On the contrary, AC supplementation significantly reduced OXY’s negative impacts on growth and hematological, biochemical, and antioxidant balance. In addition, exposure to OXY markedly increased levels of biomarkers of hepatorenal damage, stress indicators, and DNA damage, which were alleviated with AC supplementation. OXY exposure induced immunosuppression manifested by a decrease in lysozyme activities, complement c3, nitric oxide levels, and phagocytic activity. Furthermore, exposure to OXY negatively regulated the expression of immune-antioxidant genes (CAT, GPX1, SOD1, GST, and TGF-Β1). However, it upregulated the expression of CYP1a, IL-1β, and TNF-α in the liver, anterior kidney, and intestine of C. gariepinus. Meanwhile, the addition of AC to the OXY-exposed fish diets notably restored immune components and remedied the altered immune-related gene expressions. Likewise, the AC supplementation significantly alleviated the OXY-induced reduction in the fish survival rate after Q. aegypticus challenge. Accordingly, AC dietary supplementation in catfish diets could alleviate the negative impact of exposure to OXY on growth performance, physiological status, and some immune-antioxidant-related gene expression.
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DOI: 10.3390/fishes8060297
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