Seyedeh Fatemeh Afzali
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Aquac Res Development
Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), causes by the fungus Aphanomyces invadans is one of the OIE-listed diseases which imposed huge economic losses in fish industry in the world during the recent decades. While control of EUS in infected fish population is most likely impossible; hitherto, there has been no vaccine available for prevention of this destructive infection. In the other hand, traditional disease management strategies with application of antibiotics and chemotherapy continue to cause undesirable effects such as antibiotic resistance, environmental pollution and food security issues. Therefore, an alternative strategy is to use medicinal plants as immunostimulants for EUS treatments. It is known that more than 400,000 species of tropical plants have medicinal properties. Plant extracts or their byproducts contain several active compounds such as phenols, polyphenols, alkaloids, quinones, terpenoids, lectines and polypeptides that have been shown to be effective alternatives to traditional chemotherapies and vaccines. Also they are biodegradable, environment friendly, inexpensive, renewable and locally available which can be easily prepared. Some plants such as Mikania cordata, Rauvolfia tetraphylla, neem (Azadirachta indica), akand (Calotropis gigantea), turmeric (Curcuma longa), Curcuma zedoaria, Indian sorrel (Oxalis corniculata) and Nigella sativa have been proved to enhance disease resistance against EUS. Our scientific group, for the first time is working on new tropical herbal extract that expecting to enhance EUS-susceptible fish innate immunity system. This new finding could be applied to develop prophylactic strategies in EUS prevention for sustainable worldâ??s aquaculture in near future.
Email: afzali.utar@gmail.com