The impact of various nutmeg concentrations on some common carp growth indicators L. Cyprinus carpio

The study was conducted in special cages in a mud pond, Agricultural Research and Experiment Station, Animal Production Department, Agriculture College, Al-Muthanna University, from 1/10/2020 to 10/12/2021to study the effect of different levels of nutmeg on some growth parameters of common carp. A total of 100 common carp fish, Cyprinus carpio , were brought from a private fish breeding lake in Al-Qadisiyah Governorate, Al-Mihnawiya District, with an average weight of ±.94 gm. 80 fish were selected and distributed randomly and evenly to the experimental cages, put in each aquarium 5 fish for acclimatization, the fish persisted during the acclimatization period, which amounted to 10 days, were starved for one day and then fed with 1% of the weight of the live mass in each tank at the rate of two meals per day. The four treatments were T1 control, T2 0.005%, T3 0.01% and T4 0.015% nutmeg. The results indicated a significant decrease in the final body weight, weight gain, daily growth rate, relative growth rate and specific growth rate in all nutmeg treatments compared to the control treatment.


Introduction
Nutmeg possesses antioxidant activity due to the presence of various compounds, including β-caryophyllene and eugenol, containing hydrogen atoms at allyl or benzylic positions.Because of the relatively simple extraction of atomic hydrogen from these functional groups, these compounds have high antioxidant activity.Atomic hydrogen is extracted by peroxy radicals produced under oxidative stress.The eugenol in nutmeg favors its antioxidant property by enhancing the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, glutathione peroxidase and glutamine transferase enzymes 1 .The essential oil and various extracts of aromatic plants have shown potent antimicrobial activity against various fungi and bacteria.Antibacterial activity by preparing chloroform extract from nutmeg against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, myristic acid and trimeristin were found to be the main antibacterial compounds extracted from nutmeg seeds 2 .Several researchers have reported the anti-inflammatory activity of nutmeg and its oil 3 .Similar to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, pharmacological activities are also shown by nutmeg oil 4 .The current study aims to show the effect of different levels of nutmeg on the growth parameters of common carp Cyprinus carpio L.

Experiment place
The experiment was conducted at the first agricultural research and experiment station in Al-Muthanna Governorate, from 1/10/2020 to 10/12/2021, in dugout ponds 45 m long, 35 m wide and 1.5 m deep.It is about 1 km away from the Euphrates River / Atshan.The water was pumped by an electric pump installed on the river.The water enters the basin through an iron pipe with a diameter of 8 inches, installed at a height of 1.25 m from the bottom of the basin.A plastic clip controlled its nozzle to prevent the entry of aquatic life and foreign objects from the river into the basin.The basin water was emptied partially and continuously; the basin was prepared and equipped with an iron bridge paved with wood, 24 m long and 60 cm wide, in the shape of a T-shape extending from the end of the land to the middle of the basin.The bridge was based on five pillars and was provided with iron rings to connect it to the experiment cages through plastic belts.The bridge facilitates access to experiment cages to perform all operations related to fish farming, including feeding, weighing, measuring water temperature, and others.The basin was also provided with a mesh iron cage with a length of 1 m, a width of 1 m, and a height of 1.5 m to store the fish before distributing it to the experiment ponds and to keep the rest of it for later.
Experience fish 100 common carp, Cyprinus carpio L., were brought from a private fish breeding lake in Al-Qadisiyah Governorate, Al-Mahanawiya District, with an average weight of 94 g.After the fish arrived at the experiment site, they were placed in plastic basins that were prepared as a 3% salt bath for 5 minutes Until signs of stress appeared on the fish to eliminate external parasites if they were present in the fish.The fish were transferred and placed in the iron cage inside the earthen pond and close to the experiment cages for 24 hours, during which the dead fish were excluded.

Acclimatization periods
On the next day, the fish were taken out of the iron cage, and 80 fish were selected from them and distributed randomly and evenly to the experiment cages, as put in each aquarium 5 fish for acclimatization.The fish persisted during the acclimatization period, which amounted to 10 days.The fish were starved for one day and then fed with 1% of the weight of the live mass in each tank at two meals per day.

Feed material used Nutmeg
Nutmeg was obtained by buying it from local markets for use in the composition of diets.The diet was made in a tubular shape with a diameter of 3 mm, and after it came out of the pressing machine, it was placed in a large rectangular dish and left to air-dry.Then, after drying, it was broken into small pieces 5-10 mm long to make it easier for fish to eat, packaged in 5kg special plastic containers, a sample was taken from the bush for analysis and knowing its chemical composition Table 2.

Field experience
The experiment lasted for 72 days with acclimatization using four different experimental diets in terms of adding nutmeg percentages to determine the effect of its use on some productive traits and some physiological, biochemical and immunological characteristics of common carp fish.The four experimental diets were (T1 control, T2 0.005%, T3 0.01%, T4 0.015% nutmeg) with a crude protein percentage of 28% in all diets.The experimental fish were fed 5% of the live weight for the first 40 days of the experiment.It was served 4 meals a day (7:30 and 10 in the morning, 12:30 in the afternoon and 3 in the evening, then this percentage was reduced to 3% in the last 20 days of the experiment, provided three meals a day at (eight and eleven-thirty in the morning and three in the evening), due to the low water temperature and lack of appetite and fish eating the feed provided to them, the amount of feed was adjusted according to the periodic weight of the fish every ten days and to the nearest decimal place.After drying them with a cotton cloth, the experimental fish were weighed using a sensitive scale (500 gm) type DIGITAL SCALE of Chinese origin.No narcotics were used when weighing.On the day of weighing, the first meal of the feed is not provided, as well as the second meal at times, because it coincides immediately after weighing.Since fish are often stressed after weighing, the water temperature was measured daily with a mercury thermometer, as well as the degree of transparency of the water using a Seki disk.The measurement of pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity and nitrite was done in the Muthanna Environment Directorate and one of the private laboratories.

Statistical Analysis
Randomized Complete Design (CRD) was used to study treatments' effect on the traits studied.Significant differences between means were tested using Duncan's 7 multiple range test, at a significance level 0.05.The ready-made statistical program SPSS 8 was used to analyze the data.

Weight gain and daily growth rate
The statistical analysis results showed significant differences at the probability level (0.05) in the weight gain in T1 compared with the rest of the treatments, then T2 showed superiority compared with T3 and T4.There were no significant differences between T3 and T4, where T1t recorded 131.31 ± 1.03 gm/fish, T2 recorded 119.39 ± 1.98 gm/fish, while T3 and T4 recorded 108.85 ± 1.87, 109.5 ± 1.05 gm/fish, respectively, (Table 3).The daily growth rate showed significant differences between the experimental treatments, and the highest recorded value due to T1 was 2.19 ± 0.017 (gm/day).T2 followed it in the daily growth rate, which was (1.99 ± 0.033) gm/day.There were no significant differences between T3 (1.82 ± 0.017) gm/day and T4 (1.81 ± 0.031) gm/day on the daily growth rate.
Relative growth rate There were significant differences between the treatments.T1 recorded the highest relative growth rate (140.73 ± 2.39) and thus outperformed T2 (126.5 ± 3.34), T3 (114.79± 3.39) and T4 (114.75 ± 1.58).Specific growth rate T1 was significantly superior to the rest of the treatments as it was recorded 1.46 ± 0.016, while the value of T2 was 1.36 ± 0.024, T3 and T4 were recorded respectively 1.27 ± 0.012 and 1.27 ± 0.26.3. Some of the studied growth parameters (mean ± standard error) of common carp fish fed on diets supplemented with nutmeg during the experiment.

Feed conversion ratio
Table (4) shows that there was a significant superiority in T1 (P≤0.05) in the feed conversion ratio concerning the rest of the experimental treatments.The recorded value was 2.42 gm of feed/gm of weight gain.There were no significant differences between the rest of the experimental treatments, where T2 recorded 2.77 gm feed/gm weight gain, followed by T4 2.81 gm feed/gm weight gain, and T3 was 2.88 gm feed/gm weight gain.
Feed conversion efficiency T1 recorded a significant (P≤0.05)superiority in the achieved feed conversion efficiency compared with the rest of the treatments, and its value was 41.20%.In contrast, the rest of the treatments followed in feed conversion efficiency.The rest of the treatments did not record any significant differences between them, where T2 recorded 36.12%,T4 recorded 35.49%, and T3 recorded 34.76%.
Protein efficiency ratio T1 recorded the highest significant difference (P≤0.05)compared with the rest of the treatments; the protein efficiency ratio was 1.46 gm, with more weight/gm protein intake than the rest.There were no significant differences between the second, third and fourth treatments, where the second treatment recorded 1.28 gm weight gain/gm protein intake.The fourth treatment recorded 1.26 gm of weight gain/gm protein intake, then the third treatment recorded 1.23 gm of weight gain/gm of protein intake.4. Dry feed intake, protein intake, feed conversion ratio and feed conversion efficiency (mean ± standard error) of common carp fish fed on diets containing nutmeg seed powder during the experimental period.

Discussion
The essential oil and various extracts of aromatic plants have shown potent antimicrobial activity against various fungi and bacteria.Antibacterial activity by preparing chloroform extract from nutmeg against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, myristic acid and trimeristin were found to be the main antibacterial compounds extracted from nutmeg seeds 9 .Several researchers have reported the anti-inflammatory activity of nutmeg as well as its oil 10 .Similar to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, pharmacological activities are also shown by nutmeg oil 11 .

Conclusions
The results indicated a significant decrease in the final body weight, weight gain, daily growth rate, relative growth rate, and specific growth rate in all nutmeg treatments compared to the control treatment.

*
Different letters indicate significant differences within the same grade at a significant level (P≤0.05).Table

*
Different letters indicate significant differences within the same grade at a significant level (P≤0.05).Table