| Summary: | Tilapia is one of the most important fish in freshwater aquaculture. However, increased intensification of aquaculture has led to many constraints including, poor growth, and poor health. This has made it hard for fish farmers to turn the biological benefits associated with intensive farming systems into economical gain. Moreover, the wide adoption use of chemotherapeutic drugs to maintain health and sex reversal hormones to control reproduction appears to be merely production-oriented, thus unsustainable. Hence, improvement of productions in aquaculture should also focus on environmentally friendly, and sustainable methods. Today, huge attention is focused on the use of medicinal herbal extracts to improve yield in aquaculture as alternatives to chemical agents. Accordingly, the aim of this work was to critically review the effectiveness of herbal extracts in tilapia farming, and further highlight gaps in the existing knowledge and the way forward in using medicinal herbal extracts in tilapia aquaculture. A wide range of medicinal herbal products were reported to enhance growth, appetite, immune responses, antioxidation, hepatoprotective activity, and control reproduction in tilapia species; attributed by their abundant bio-actives such as saponin, phenols, flavonoids and polysaccharides. However, the lack of sufficient knowledge on herbal extracts limits the cost-effective use of herbal extracts in tilapia aquaculture. Little knowledge still exists on herbal extract concentration, types of extracts, and their potential negative impacts on fish, consumers, and environment, just to mention but a few. More researches are therefore deemed necessary to optimize the use of herbal extracts in tilapia culture.
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