“Effect of available medicinal herbs of Bangladesh on growth performance, immune response and disease resistance in Fish: an alternative approach for sustainable aquaculture".

With the rapid expansion of aquaculture worldwide, vulnerability to diseases due to pathogen attacks in aquaculture organisms is increasing. To prevent and control pathogenic infestations in aquaculture, synthetic antibiotics, chemical drugs, chemotherapeutics and vaccines are being used for years, creating various health and environmental hazard, such as antibiotic-resistance in pathogens, mass destruction of beneficial aquatic bacteria, alteration of microbial communities. In search of alternative approaches, medicinal plant extracts can be a promising source for their inexpensive, biodegradable, environment-friendly and easy-to-extract properties. Bangladesh is very much rich in medicinal plant diversity. Around 750 plant species have been reported to be used in traditional medicinal practices for human health care (SB Uddin et al., 2014). Few studies have been carried out on medicinal plants of Bangladesh to find out their antimicrobial effect on fish pathogens; many other available potential plants remain to be studied. Within this project, we will try to find out potential effective medicinal plants of Bangladesh against selected fish pathogens and to identify bioactive compounds of most effective plant extracts. Effect of the most effective plant extracts on growth, survival, immune response and disease resistance in fish will be studied in vivo in lab conditions in relation to dose, method and exposure duration. Further, immune response and growth hormone gene expression analysis will be carried out.