Effects of Essential Oil Derived from the Bitter Orange (Citrus aurantium) on Growth Performance, Histology and Gene Expression Levels in Common Carp Juveniles (Cyprinus carpio)

Ümit Acar; Osman Sabri Kesbiç; Sevdan Yılmaz; Burak Evren İnanan; Fahriye Zemheri-Navruz; Funda Terzi; Francesco Fazio; Vincenzo Parrino

doi:10.3390/ani11051431

Effects of Essential Oil Derived from the Bitter Orange (Citrus aurantium) on Growth Performance, Histology and Gene Expression Levels in Common Carp Juveniles (Cyprinus carpio)

Animals (Basel). 2021 May 17;11(5):1431. doi: 10.3390/ani11051431.

Authors

Ümit Acar¹, Osman Sabri Kesbiç², Sevdan Yılmaz³, Burak Evren İnanan⁴, Fahriye Zemheri-Navruz⁵, Funda Terzi⁶, Francesco Fazio⁷, Vincenzo Parrino⁸

Affiliations

¹ Bayramiç Vocational School, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale 17100, Turkey.
² Department of Microbiology, Veterinary Faculty, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu 37200, Turkey.
³ Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale 17100, Turkey.
⁴ Department of Veterinary Science, Eskil Vocational School, Aksaray University, Aksaray 68000, Turkey.
⁵ Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Science, Bartın University, Bartın 74100, Turkey.
⁶ Department of Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kastamonu University, Kastamonu 37200, Turkey.
⁷ Department of Veterinary Sciences, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy.
⁸ Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical, and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to detect effects of bitter orange (Citrus aurantium) essential oil, commonly called neroli oil (NO) (0, 0.25, 0.50, 1, and 1.5% referred to as NO₀ NO_0.25, NO_{0. 05}, NO₁ and NO_1.5, respectively) on growth performance output and expression levels of some growth-related genes in the muscle tissue and some immune-related genes in the head kidney and pathological differences in digestive system organs of common carp Cyprinus carpio. The NO_0.25 group had a large improvement in growth efficiency at the end of the 60-day feeding cycle. Real-time PCR (Bio RAD, USA) system was used to detect variations in gene expression levels. Furthermore, NO supplementation of up to 0.25% in muscle tissue controlled the release of growth hormone (GH) and insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I). Furthermore, in the NO_0.25 treatment category, immune response gene levels TNF-α, IL-8 and IL-1ß increased in head kidney tissue. In the histological examination of the liver and intestine, there were significant differences between fish fed with N₁ and N_1.5 diets. This study confirms that dietary supplementation of NO up to 0.25% can improve common carp growth efficiency and increase the expression of genes (GH and IGF-I) related to muscle growth, TNF-α, IL-8 and IL-1ß genes related to immune status, and liver and intestine histological status of common carp.

Keywords: bitter orange; common carp; gene regulation; growth performance; neroli oil.