Allium sativum-, Zingiber officinale- and Curcuma longa-Induced Digestive and Antioxidant Enzyme Activities in Macrobrachium rosenbergii Post Larvae

The digestive and antioxidant effects of three Indian medicinal herbs Allium sativum (AS), Zingiber offi cinale (ZO) and Curcuma longa (CL) were studied at enzyme level in Macrobrachium rosenbergii post-larvae (PL) to assess the growth promoting and survival enhancement properties of these herbs. The PL were given 10 different diets containing AS, ZO and CL each at 1, 3 and 5% levels for 90 days under laboratory conditions. Experiments were conducted in parallel with a control diet having no herb supplementation. At the end of the trial, signifi cant increase in weight gain (WG) (P < 0.046) was found in the groups fed with 5% ZO. The survival rate increased signifi cantly with 5% CL supplementation (P < 0.049). ZO (5%) signifi cantly increased the activity level of protease (P < 0.048), amylase (P < 0.204) and lipase (P < 0.003). CL (5%) supplementation signifi cantly increased the activity level of two antioxidant enzymes, namely, superoxide dismutase (SOD) (P < 0.045) and catalase (CAT) (P < 0.004). AS (5%) supplementation signifi cantly increased the activity of the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase (GPX) (P < 0.072). Therefore, it is concluded that ZO can promote growth by improving the digestive enzyme activities (protease, amylase and lipase) and CL is able to enhance the survivability by improving the antioxidant enzyme (SOD and CAT) activities.