Enrichment of Artemia
nauplii with the probiotic yeast Saccharomyces boulardii and its
resistance against a pathogenic Vibrio
S.K. Patra, K.S.
Mohamed-2003
Aquaculture International, 11(5):
505-514
Abstract:
Enrichment of Artemia nauplii with a known
probiotic yeast Saccharomyces boulardii (SB) and its role in
enhancing resistance against the pathogen Vibrioharveyi was
investigated. SB was cultured, then fed to instar II Artemia
nauplii in three different treatments; 102 (T1), 103
(T2) and 104 (T3) colony forming units (CFU) per ml in
triplicate. The algae Nanochloropsis sp. was used as control diet.
Survival and total count of CFU nauplii-1 was observed on
different media (Sabouraud, for enumerating yeasts, thiosulphate citrate
bile salts sucrose, for enumerating Vibrio and seawater agar, for
enumerating total aerobic flora) for each replication. Enhanced survival of
nauplii was observed in treatments as compared to control. Results indicated
that enrichment of SB in Artemia nauplii proceeded in a linear
fashion, and up to 3500 CFU of SB could be
detected in one nauplii at 104 CFU
ml-1 treatment. No conclusive trend could be observed in
the count of Vibrio and total aerobic flora due to treatment.
Enriched nauplii were then challenged with the pathogen V. harveyi
for 24 and 48 h at a concentration of 6.1 ×
106 CFU ml-1. The survival counts at 48
h showed that the resistance of the nauplii was significantly (P
< 0.01) improved in those fed with
104 CFU ml-1
SB (90% survival rate after 48 h of challenge
versus less than 40% for the infected control group without SB and
treatments T1 and T2). This study shows that SB, which has been used for the
first time in an aquatic live feed organism, has a profound beneficial
effect on the nauplii by increasing its resistance to a pathogenic Vibrio
infection.
(Central Marine
Fisheries Research Institute, PO Box 1603, Tatapuram P.O., Cochin –
682014, Kerala, India, tel: +91 484
2394867; fax: +91
484
2394909, e-mail of K.S.
Mohamed: mfdcmfri@vsnl.com)