Evaluation of native phytobiotic effects on immune response of fish and shellfish

The increasing demands for food and aquaculture besides the limited natural resources caused the changes of culture systems towards intensive and super-intensive culture in which water is more polluted and probability of developing diseases is higher compared to semi-intensive and open systems. Since application of antibiotics in aquaculture is prohibited under international laws, administration of food additives and immunity complements as a substitute for antibiotics has been studied in the past decade. Application of vaccines is also limited due to host specificity of pathogens as well as the high cost of vaccines. The review of literatures revealed that administration of probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, and herbal medicines has been the successful approaches for controlling pathogens. Among those approaches, herbal medicines are cheaper for treatment of aquatic organisms, protect the environment, and have fewer side effects compared to chemicals. This present manuscript reviews the effects of native medicinal plants and their derivate on the immune response of fish and crustaceans.