| Protective effects of nanochitosan/zeolite composite besides zeolite and chitosan/
zeolite composite on rainbow trout growth, digestive enzyme activities and biochemical
parameters were studied. Nanochitosan/zeolite hybrid composites with
three different ratio of nanochitosan:zeolite (35:100, 3.5:100 and 0.35:100) were
synthesized and analysed by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermal gravim (TG)
analysis and scanning electron microscope (SEM) methods. Prepared composites as
well as zeolite and control diets were fed to rainbow trout (50 g) for a period of
60 days. The addition of treated diets significantly improved growth performance
compared to the control diet. Supplemental zeolite could only enhance the amylase
activity in fish intestine, whereas other treatment groups could increase the pepsin
activity besides intestinal alkaline phosphatase, trypsin and amylase activities. No
differences were observed for intestinal acid phosphatase and lipase activities
among the experimental diets. Meanwhile, serum total antioxidant activity and lipid
peroxidation product, indicated by malondialdehyde (MDA), significantly increased
and decreased, respectively, with some doses of administration, indicating the elevated
antioxidant status in treatment groups. Serum-specific marker enzymes,
namely aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), were not
affected in all groups. Meanwhile serum total protein in most treatment groups was
significantly higher than the control group. Results showed that synthesized composites
especially nanochitosan/zeolite composite at 5 g/kg had potential to
enhance growth performance, digestive enzyme activities and some biochemical
parameters in rainbow trout. |