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In order to determine effects of chicken and cattle manures in culture of Chlorococcum, an experiment was designed in six treatments including; 0.1, 0.4, 0.8 g/l of chicken manure and 0.1, 0.4, 0.8 g/l of cattle manure as completely randomize design with three replicates for 28 days. Results showed that the mean maximum density (87.1 × 10⁵ cell/ml), specific growth rate (0.054 day^-1), algal dry biomass (0.644 g/l), and chlorophyll a (9.42 mg/l) were obtained with 0.8 mg/l chicken manure. In order to compare performance of these manures with other culture media, second experiment with five treatments including; BBM (control) (Bold’s Basal Medium), BBM + soil extract, 0.8 g/l chicken manure, 0.8 g/l cattle manure and mixture of all treatment (BBM, BBM + soil extract, chicken manure and cattle manure) was designed as completely randomize design with three replicates for 15 days. Comparative results showed that BBM + soil extract had highest algal density (11.6 x 10⁶ cells/ml), highest algal dry biomass (0.81 mg/ml), maximum SGR (0.13 /day), highest chlorophyll a (10.15 mg/l) and minimum doubling time (4.97 days). In conclusion, performance of BBM + soil extract was better in terms of biomass and growth parameters of Chlorococcum.

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The effect of sublethal concentrations of cadmium on some haematological parameters of juvenile sterlet, Acipenser ruthenus. For this purpose, 60 fish (41.69 ± 0.95 g and 23.98 ± 0.14 cm) were randomly divided into four experimental groups and exposed to 0 (control), 16, 32 and 64 μg/L Cd concentration, each in 3 replicates for 21 days. The hematological parameters, including red and white blood counts, differential white blood count, hematocrit (Hct), hemoglobin (Hb), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) and white to red cells ratio were determined using standard methods. The highest level of Hct (30.57 ± 1.91%) was observed in fish exposed to 64 µg/L (p<0.05). The highest mean values of Hb (10.01 ± 0.63 and 10.47 ± 0.57 g/dL) were measured in the fish exposed to 32 and 64 µg/L of Cd, respectively, which was significantly higher than Hb values in the control (8.24 ± 0.38 g/dL). For the rest of parameters, there were no significant differences between fish exposed to different Cd doses (p>0.05). The results indicated at least some deleterious effects of sublethal concentration of Cd on some hematological parameters of sterlet, which maybe reflecting the stress response as well as deleterious effects on haemopoietic tissues.The study of long term effects of Cd exposure of starlet is suggested.

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The Effect of different levels of Wood Betony (WB), Stachys lavandulifolia extract, as complement in feed, on the performance of common carp, Cyprinus carpio was evaluated. The fish (44±0.62 g) was assigned to four treatments, three replicates each. The fish was fed on normal diet with no WB (control) vs. diet containing 2, 4 and 8% of WB extract. Fish were successively fed on the diet, 2% live body weight, three daily for 70 days. The results revealed that final weight, mean weight gain and specific growth rate were significantly improved by increasing WBlevels in the diet. The highest growth performance and the lowest feed conversion ratio were recorded for 8%WBtreatment. No significant changes were observed in the proximate whole body composition among different groups. Hemoglobin content and hematocrit value increased significantly in the second group in comparison with the others (P< 0.05). The highest serum total protein (5.05±1.4 g dl^-1) and globulin (2.47±0.3 g dl^-1) were recorded in the fish fed on the highest dose of WB (8%). Inclusion of 2% of WB in the diet reduced serum triglycerides (317.44±89 mg dl^-1) and cholesterol (141.51±35 mg dl^-1) in comparison with control (P< 0.05). It could be concluded that feeding common carp with the diet enriched with WB extract could enhance growth rate, improve some hematological and biochemical characteristics with no adverse effects on body composition. 

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The different aspects of using dietary supplements such as prebiotics in aquaculture and their effects on innate immune response, and especially their vertical transmission, are of a grave importance. To address such issues in both horizontal and vertical transmission of boosting immune system, the present study was designed to investigate the effect of different levels of dietary Agrimos^® on the innate immune-related gene expression [Lysozyme (Lyz) and Tumor Necrosis Factor alpha (TNFα)], DNA methylation, and three Histone MethylTransferase [HMTs (H3K4, H3K9, H3K27)] activities as well as growth performance in zebrafish (Danio rerio). Three hundred and sixty healthy 24-days-old zebrafish were randomly distributed in twelve aquaria assigned to four groups. Zebrafish were fed with either control diet or a diet supplemented by different levels (0.2, 0.4, and 0.8%) of Agrimos^® for 90 days. The offspring of each treatment was assessed to find the potential of vertical transmission of immunity by using this dietary prebiotic. At the end of the experiment, gene expression studies revealed significant up-regulation (P˂ 0.05) of TNFα and Lyz genes in 0.2 and 0.4% Agrimos^® fed fish compared with the control group. Although our findings showed that supplemented diet reduced DNA methylation (P˂ 0.05) in Agrimos^® treatments compared with the control, there was no significant change in all three HMTs’ activities among experimental groups (P> 0.05). The result shows the successful transmission of Lyz gene expression as an innate immune response to the offspring of the treated adults and supports a direct role of DNA demethylation in the regulation of these candidate gene expressions, suggesting possible role of diet on regulating the epigenetic processes.