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Research Journal of the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka- Rohana 13, 2021
grandiflora are common food item of the people in Southeast and South Asia. Also,

S. grandiflora have ahown antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and

antiuroithialic activity (Gomase et al., 2012). Scientific studies have confirmed
many ethnomedicinal uses of Aegle marmelos (bael) such as free radical scavenging,

antioxidant, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, antibacterial etc. (Manjeshwar et al.,

2011). Studies have revealed that Aegle marmelos acquires a variety of nutritional
elements like large group of phytochemicals which include phenolic acids,

flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins, and coumarins. Other than these, amino acids, fatty
acids, wide range of organic acids, minerals, carbohydrates, vitamins, and fibers

make Aegle marmelos a highly nutritious fruit with immense health benefits
(Tanmay et al., 2020). Allium sativum (Garlic) is an important vegetable extensively

cultivated in many countries. It is used as food for humans as well as some animals

and as a remedy for several diseases. A. sativum has been used to enhance the
growth and resistance for disease in many varieties of livestock and fish. It has been

reported significant weight gain, increase in feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio
and specific growth rate in Nile tilapia when fed with a diet containing 30 g/kg

garlic powder (Shalaby et al., 2006). Research that has been carried out to
investigate the effect of aqueous garlic extract on the macromolecular synthesis of

Candida albicans found that protein and nucleic acid synthesis were inhibited to the

same extent as growth, but lipid synthesis was completely prevented. Some people
use garlic as an immune system booster compared to Vitamin C (Adetumbi et al.,

1986).

Objectives of the present study were to investigate the effect of diets containing

medicinal plant ingredients on the growth performance of red tilapia (Oreochromis
sp.) and asses the water quality in the experimental tanks.

Materials and Methods

Experimental Design

Experiment was carried out in the Animal house of the Department of Zoology,

Faculty of Science, University of Ruhuna, Matara, Sri Lanka. Fries of red tilapia
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