Anti-pathogenicity of Acanthus ilicifolius leaf extracts against A. hydrophila infection in Labeo rohita fingerlings

Antibiotic resistance has become one of the inevitable barrier in aquaculture disease management. Herbal drugs has evolved to be the novel ways of combating drug resistant pathogens. In the current investigation, leaf extracts of mangrove plant, Acanthus ilicifolius were assessed for in vitro studies, among the selected four extracts, methanol extract has expressed highest antibacterial activity against P .aeruginosa (4 ± 0.3 mm), A. hydrophila (5.9 ± 0.5 mm), S. aureus (3.5 ± 0.7 mm) and B. subtilis (2.9 ± 0.5 mm) and antioxidant activity, DPPH (81.3 ± 1.0 AAEµg/ml) and FRAP (139.1 ± 1.5 AAEµg/ml).TPC and TFC were higher in the methanolic extract and has exhibited positive correlation with both DPPH and FRAP assays. Considering the in vitro efficiency, methanol extract was purified successively by column and thin layer chromatography and characterisation by GC–MS unveiled the presence of 2-Propanethiol, Trimethylphosphine, Pentanoyl chloride, Dimethylhydroxymethylphosphine and Propanedinitrile, ethylidene. A. hydrophila infected L. rohita fingerlings has survival percentage 81% and 94% in extract treated groups over 0% in negative control and 71% in positive control. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13568-023-01595-y.