Abstract

The exponential growth of the aquaculture sector in Chile has led to an increase in the requirements of protein sources for the formulation of diets for farmed fish. In this regard, soybean meal is one of the most widely used alternatives to replace fishmeal to make the aquaculture industry more sustainable and environmentally friendly. However, its ingestion triggers an intestinal inflammatory process that compromises fish health. Due to the positive cost-benefit relationship that soybean meal offers, finding strategies that reduce its deleterious effects will be economically and environmentally relevant. In this regard, natural additives with immunomodulatory effects that protect the intestinal tract could be a plausible solution. In this work we analyzed the effects of aloe vera (Aloe barbadensis miller, AV) on innate immune system behavior, both present in the medium and in the diet of zebrafish.