Effect of probiotics and biofloc on total cultivable bacteria and Vibrio spp. in shrimp culture

Abstract

The successful entrepreneurship of aqua farming relies on the production of aquatic animals in the cost effective, social and environmental friendly approach. Nevertheless, presently fish farming is suffering from various problems related to environmental damages and low productivity of various crops. Biofloc technology and/or application of probiotics provide promising results to aquaculture in terms of improvement in the growth and survival of aquatic animals, along with other benefits such as maintaining water quality without causing pollution to the environment and microbial management. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the effect of probiotics and biofloc on total bacteria and Vibrio spp. load in grow-out culture of shrimp which was treated in nursery phase. Two commercial probiotic (PRO-2 and PRO-W) and biofloc (C:N=1:12) were applied for 27 days in nursery tank at Redient Shrimp Hatchery in Shaymnagar, Satkhira. The populations of total bacteria and pathogenic bacteria of Vibrio spp. were monitored in shrimp after 61 days of grow-out culture where no probiotic and biofloc were applied. The results of this study reported that probiotic and biofloc treatment in the nursery phase of P. monodon culture did not have any impact of the total microbial load throughout the grow- out culture period. In contrast, in feed probiotics (T1, T3), and biofloc (T4) as well as combination of biofloc and in feed probiotics (T5) was found to have good contribution to develop a microbial community in the gut of P. monodon, which may capable to protect exploring Vibrio spp. community during the grow-out culture. Thus, application of probiotics and bioflocs could lead to disease-free and profitable shrimp culture operations which will be helpful for shrimp farmers as most of them are now-a-days severely affected by vibriosis disease.