Adição do óleo essencial de Aloysia triphylla em dieta para zebrafish

Abstract

The use of essential oils (EO) or plant extracts in diets fish has demonstrated positive effects on growth performance, efficiency of nutrient utilization, increased growth rate and resistance to stress, immunity and protection against pathogens. The Aloysia triphylla is used as a condiment and for medicinal purposes and its EO stands out for having anesthetic and sedative properties, mitigate stress and promote oxidative protection and growth of silver catfish. The zebrafish has many characteristics similar to mammals and is considered a model organism for research, has functional genomics availability and rapid development, facilitating behavioral, nutritional and growth studies. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of A. triphylla EO in zebrafish, analyzing the growth, oxygen consumption, exploratory activity, distance travelled and whole-body cortisol. The experiment lasted 210 days, and growth was evaluated at 90 days. Three diets (0.0, 1.0 and 2.0 mL/kg) with A. triphylla EO added to the diet were evaluated. The addition of EO to zebrafish diet proved efficient by reducing oxygen consumption and exploratory activity of fish treated with diets OE. No difference was observed for the growth, distance travelled and whole-body cortisol between treatments. Thus, it is concluded that addition of 1.0 and 2.0 mL/kg A. triphylla EO added to the diet is effective in promote reduction of oxygen consumption and exploratory activity in zebrafish.