Dietary prebiotics and probiotics influence growth performance, nutrient digestibility and the expression of immune regulatory genes in snakehead (Channa striata) fingerlings

• Dietary prebiotics and probiotics intake had a positive influence on growth performance and feed utilization;
• Feeding with probiotics resulted in better growth performance than prebiotics.
• *Prolonged feeding with prebiotics did not improve growth performance significantly;
• Dietary prebiotics and probiotics influenced digestive enzyme activities and subsequently nutrient digestibility;
• Dietary prebiotics and probiotics enhanced the expression of immune regulatory genes.

This study evaluated the effect of duration of feeding with selected prebiotics (β-glucan, GOS, MOS) and probiotics (Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Lactobacillus acidophilus) on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, the expression of immune regulatory genes and the capacity of Channa striata fingerlings to retain the benefits derived after the intake of these supplements with time. Fish on the supplemented diets resulted in better growth performance, nutrient digestibility and the expression of immune regulatory genes significantly (P < 0.05) outperforming those on the control diet; highest performance was found in fish fed with L. acidophilus supplement. The growth trends were lower in all prebiotics compared to fish on the probiotics supplemented diets. The results obtained from the present study showed that supplementation with L. acidophilus is best for growth and the expression of immune regulatory genes of C. striata fingerlings regardless of feeding duration unlike the prebiotic treatments whose early differences became insignificant by the time feeding was extended to 16 weeks.