The product is an effective tool to avoid immunosuppression that leads to a worsening of performance and makes fish prone to suffer infections

Aquaculture is the sector in animal production that grew the most in the last years and, for this, it had to face several challenges.  One of the main ones is stress since most aquaculture species are overly sensitive to changes in the environment and management.

Stress, common denominator in aquaculture

Stress has multiple negative effects on animal production. On one hand, it causes an increase of energy expenditure, which worsens productive performance. On the other hand, it causes immunosuppression, which makes fish more prone to suffer infections and increases mortality.

Fish from aquaculture systems are subjected to many stressful factors, and management is one of them. Any procedure such as transportation and vaccination causes a great deal of stress to these animals. Mortality peaks usually occur during and after these practices and are one of the things that worry producers the most.

Biovet’s natural immunobooster, Alquernat Immuplus, prevents the consequences of stress

Immunoboosters are a promising solution for aquaculture production because they can help to prevent stress-related immunosuppression. Alquernat Immuplus is a natural immunobooster based on pronutrients, a technology developed by Biovet S.A., that maintains under optimal physiological conditions the defensive system of aquaculture species, particularly during transportation and vaccinations, so that it reduces mortality and disease outbreaks.

A trial with Alquernat Immuplus in tilapia was conducted in Peru

The efficacy of Alquernat Immuplus in fish has been tested in different field trials and is currently used in several companies of the sector. Moreover, its efficacy has been recently evaluated in tilapia in collaboration with Universidad Nacional del Callao, where 648 fingerlings were distributed in four groups: a control fed a basal diet without immunoboosters, and another three groups fed diets with Alquernat Immuplus at different doses (2, 4 and 6 ml/kg).

Performance parameters showed that Alquernat Immuplus in the diet of tilapia helps to improve weight by 61%, feed conversion by 31% and fish size by 22%. Dose rate of 4 ml/kg obtained the best performance, although all the groups that received the product achieved better results than the control.

Fingerlings’ immunological status was evaluated in the trial too, through the study of white cells. A higher white cell count is correlated with a better immune status and, therefore, the absence of immunosuppression. In this case, Alquernat Immuplus obtained higher white blood cell counts (between 60% and 84%) compared to the control. This improvement was the greatest using the product at 4 ml/l.

In conclusion, the trial showed that Alquernat Immuplus is an effective tool to prevent immunosuppression in tilapia fingerlings and improves productive performance and their immunological status.

Immunostimulant pronutrients, a unique technology that is available for aquaculture

Immunostimulant pronutrients, marketed as Alquernat Immuplus, are result of the scientific research conducted by Biovet’s R&D department. They were proved highly effective to prevent the consequences of stress in aqua species.

These findings are of great importance, because stress is one of the main factors that worsen fish welfare and have consequences on performance parameters, such as mortality, growth rate and feed conversion.

The inclusion of Alquernat Immuplus in aquaculture diets is highly recommended in order to prevent the consequences of stress. Furthermore, it is a completely natural product that does not leave residues in animals and does not cause resistances.