Abstract:The effects of dietary palmatine on the growth performance, antioxidant capacity and non-specific immunity of GIFT Strain of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) were investigated. A basal diet was supplemented with increasing palmatine to formulate five diets containing 0, 0.01%,0.02%,0.04% and 0.08% of palmatine. Juveniles GIFT with initial mass of 0.50 g were fed experimental diets for 12 weeks. The results showed as follows:there was no significant difference in final mass, weight gain rate, specific growth rate and feed conversion ratio among all the groups (P>0.05). With the increase of palmatine, the serum activity of AKP and T-AOC showed an increasing trend, and reached the highest value in 0.08% group. The SOD activity in 0.04% group was significantly higher than that in other groups (P<0.05), and the activity of MDA in palmatine groups was lower than that in the control group. The liver activities of SOD, AKP and CAT were significantly higher in palmatine group than those of the control group(P<0.05). The activity of T-AOC showed an upward trend with increasing of palmatine concentration, and there was no significant difference among the palmatine groups(P>0.05). The liver activity of GSH-Px was significantly higher in 0.08% palmatine group (P<0.05), the activity of MDA in palmatine groups was lower than that in the control group. The increase in activities of LZM and C4 in serum and expression levels of IL-1β,TNF-α in liver,were observed in tilapia fed the diets supplemented with palmatine. The phagocytic activity of macrophages was significantly higher in 0.04% palmatine group (P<0.05). Under the present experimental conditions, the addition of 0.04% to 0.08% of palmatine can maintain good growth performance and effectively improve antioxidant capacity and non-specific immunity of GIFT.