Development Of Compound Botanical Anti-Stress Agent And Its Application In Aquaculture Of Trionyx Sinensis

Stress is a summation of non-specific responses generated by external or internal extraordinary stimuli to biota. Stress response of aquatic animals is mainly generated by deterioration of aquatic environment and poor use of drugs or feeds. When aquatic animals are in a stress state, the abilities of anabolic reduce, catabolism increase, and the immune functions abate, thus growth and reproduction are inhibited, diseases outbreak eventually. In recent years, china turtle (Trionyx sinensis) in breeding often experiences stress responses caused by aquatic environment, feed and other input, leading to the declination of the quality and quantity of such a famous-brand aquatic product. So, to find a safe, effective, environmentally friendly anti-stress technique or method is very important. In this experiment, we selected effective herbal or natural plant extracts as the core material, gone with the supplement, such as organic acids and vitamins, to develop a compound botanical anti-stress agent. The product could prevent or relieve stress syndrome, and had a very important role in anti-oxidant, anti-stress, immunity enhancing, growth promoting and so on, by splashing to water or adding to feed.We selected rhubarb anthraquinones, chlorogenic acid and baicalin from a variety of herbs and plant extracts, supplemented by citric acid, vitamin C and vitamin E, and determined the percentage of each component in the compound botanical anti-stress agent, the ratio was that rhubarb anthraquinones:chlorogenic acid:baicalin:citric acid:vitamin C:vitamin E=1:1:1:1:2:1. In prior to determinate this ratio, we compared the safety, anti-oxidant effect, immune functions and growth between single component and complex. The agent could be splashed to water and added to feeds, all the two ways could significantly increase the anti-stress ability. In the splashed way, the rational concentration was0.015～0.020mg·L-1, and in the added way, the reasonable amount feed was1.0～2.0‰.Results showed that, all the component (rhubarb anthraquinones, chlorogenic acid, baicalin, citric acid, vitamin C and vitamin E) and complex had no acute toxicity to china turtle. The experiment lasted for30days and held in water temperature25～28℃indicted that anti-oxidant index in muscle and liver of china turtle changed significantly, T-AOC, SOD, CAT and GSH-PX increased, but MDA and XOD were inhibited. The amount of8-OhdG, DNA-damaged product in kidney decreased by31.93%-69.28%. The results showed that the antioxidant capacity significantly increased, the product of oxidative damage was significantly reduced. The components also could enhance the immune function of china turtle. Under the same experimental conditions, the amount of cortisol decreased by11.30%～39.26%in turtle plasma, while the activity of lysozyme increased by12.34%～39.14%. It is indicated that these components can significantly improve the immune activity, and reduce immune stress. When applying these components to aquaculture of juvenile turtles, we found that, compared to the control group, the growth rate increased by2.64%～15.36%, the incidence rate decreased by13.0%～25.0%in each test.The compound botanical anti-stress agent composed of rhubarb anthraquinones, chlorogenic acid, baicalin, citric acid and vitamins could eliminate oxidative damage caused by free radical, and repair immunity system fast. It can also relieve stress responses caused by harmful environmental factors, and enhance the resistance to diseases and survival ratio. The agent plays an important role in promoting the growth and development of aquatic animals.