Review: Probiotics in aquaculture
A. Irianto, B. Austin-2002
Journal of Fish
Diseases, 25(11):
633 –642
Abstract:
Probiotics, which are micro-organisms or
their products with health benefit to the host, have found use in
aquaculture as a means of disease control, supplementing or even in some
cases replacing the use of antimicrobial compounds. A wide range of
microalgae (Tetraselmis), yeasts (Debaryomyces, Phaffia
and Saccharomyces) and Gram-positive (Bacillus, Carnobacterium,
Enterococcus, Lactobacillus, Lactococcus, Micrococcus,
Streptococcus and Weissella) and Gram-negative bacteria (Aeromonas,
Alteromonas, Photorhodobacterium, Pseudomonas and Vibrio)
has been evaluated. However, the mode of action of the probiotics is rarely
investigated, but possibilities include competitive exclusion, i.e. the
probiotics actively inhibit the colonization of potential pathogens in the
digestive tract by antibiosis or by competition for nutrients and/or space,
alteration of microbial metabolism, and/or by the stimulation of host
immunity. Probiotics may stimulate appetite and improve nutrition by the
production of vitamins, detoxification of compounds in the diet, and by the
breakdown of indigestible components. There is accumulating evidence that
probiotics are effective at inhibiting a wide range of fish pathogens, but
the reasons for the inhibitions are often unstated.
(School of Life Sciences, John Muir
Building, Heriot-Watt University, Riccarton, Edinburgh EH14 4AS, UK, e-mail
of B. Austin: b.austin@hw.ac.uk)