# Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Abies sibirica Essential Oil on Growth Performance, Digestive Enzymes, Skin Mucus Immunological Parameters, and Response to Heat Stress in Rainbow Trout

## TL;DR

Adding Siberian fir essential oil to rainbow trout diets improves growth, immunity, and heat stress resistance, with the best results at 100 mg/kg.

## Contribution

The study demonstrates that Siberian fir essential oil at 100 mg/kg is effective in enhancing rainbow trout resilience to heat stress.

## Key findings

- Dietary SBF essential oil improved growth performance, digestive enzymes, and immune responses in rainbow trout.
- The 100 mg/kg SBF treatment reduced physiological stress and oxidative stress after heat exposure.
- SBF supplementation enhanced antioxidant defenses and immunological parameters in fish.

## Abstract

This study addresses the impact of dietary essential oil from the Siberian fir on growth performance, overall health, and heat stress resistance in rainbow trout. The essential oil was added at 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg to diets for 60 days. The fish that received the essential oil showed improved growth, higher gut digestive enzymes, stronger immune and antioxidant responses, and improved resistance to heat stress compared to the those received an unsupplemented diet. The best results were obtained in fish given essential oil at the 100 mg/kg level. This treatment reduced physiological stress responses and oxidative stress in the fish after the heat stress. Overall, adding Siberian fir essential oil to fish diets at the 100 mg/kg level can help rainbow trout grow better and be more resilient to heat stress.

Climate change and global warming are concerning issues impacting various industries. In the aquaculture industry, these issues are more important in coldwater species, like rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. Hence, strategies to control these negative effects are worthy of study. Herbal feed additives are reliable tools to increase fish growth and health, thereby mitigating the drawbacks of climate change on fish. In this study, three diets containing 100 (100EO), 200 (200EO), and 400 (400EO) mg/kg essential oil of Abies sibirica (SBF) along with a control diet (CTL; unsupplemented) were fed to triplicate groups of fish for 60 days. Then the fish were exposed to a 96 h heat stress (25 °C) to monitor their survival and biochemical responses. The results showed that growth performance, feed efficiency, heat stress resistance, intestinal activity of digestive enzymes, and skin mucus immunological parameters significantly (p < 0.05) increased in the SBF essential oil treatments, and the highest increases were observed in the 100EO treatment, followed by the 200EO group. Dietary supplementation with SBF essential oil significantly (p < 0.05) mitigated heat stress-induced increases in plasma cortisol and glucose. Moreover, dietary SBF essential oil significantly (p < 0.05) enhanced immunological parameters such as plasma and intestinal lysozyme and immunoglobulin levels, and improved hepatic antioxidant defenses (including catalase, glutathione peroxidase, total antioxidant capacity, and reduced glutathione), while reducing lipid peroxidation. These effects were most pronounced in the 100EO and 200EO treatments, with the highest performance being observed in the former group. In conclusion, dietary SBF essential oil at 100 mg/kg is capable of augmenting growth performance, immunity, and antioxidant capacity, and suppressing physiological stress, thereby augmenting fish resilience against heat stress.