Abstract
Yeast is frequently used as a probiotic in aquaculture with the potential to substitute for antibiotics. In this study, the involvement and extent to which the viability of yeast cells and thus the secretory metabolites released from the yeast contribute to effects of baker’s yeast was investigated in Nile tilapia. No yeast, live yeast or heat-inactivated baker’s yeast were added to basal diets high in fishmeal and low in soybean (diet A) or low in fishmeal and high in soybean (diet B), which were fed to fish for 8 weeks. Growth, feed utilization, gut microvilli morphology, and expressions of hsp70 and inflammation-related cytokines in the intestine and head kidney were assessed. Intestinal microbiota was investigated using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Gut alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activity was measured after challenging the fish with Aeromonas hydrophila. Results showed that live yeast significantly improved FBW and WG (P < 0.05), and tended to improve FCR (P = 0.06) of fish compared to the control (no yeast). No significant differences were observed between inactivated yeast and control. Live yeast improved gut microvilli length (P < 0.001) and density (P < 0.05) while inactivated yeast did not. The hsp70 expression level in both the intestine and head kidney of fish was significantly reduced by live yeast (P < 0.05) but not inactivated yeast. Live yeast but not inactivated yeast reduced intestinal expression of tnfα (P < 0.05), tgfβ (P < 0.05 under diet A) and il1β (P = 0.08). Intestinal Lactococcus spp. numbers were enriched by both live and inactivated yeast. Lastly, both live and inactivated yeast reduced the gut AKP activity compared to the control (P < 0.001), indicating protection of the host against infection by A. hydrophila. In conclusion, secretory metabolites did not play major roles in the growth promotion and disease protection effects of yeast. Nevertheless, secretory metabolites were the major contributing factor towards improved gut microvilli morphology, relieved stress status, and reduced intestinal inflammation of Nile tilapia fed diets supplemented with baker’s yeast.
Highlights
Aquaculture remains the fastest growing agri-business sector with total global production increasing from 47.3 million tons in 2006 to 70.2 million tons in 2013 [1]
Live yeast significantly improved the FBW and Weight gain (WG) of fish compared to the control (P < 0.05)
The inactive yeast had no significant influence on FBW, WG and Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of fish, with numerical improvement compared to the control
Summary
Aquaculture remains the fastest growing agri-business sector with total global production (inland and marine, without aquatic plants) increasing from 47.3 million tons in 2006 to 70.2 million tons in 2013 [1]. There has been an increasing interest in developing novel agents or functional dietary supplements to improve growth and health in fish. Yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, has been used as a probiotic in various aquatic species and the beneficial effects reported include growth promotion, enhancement of innate immune response, as well as protection against pathogen infection [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Yeast produces various metabolites such as enzymes, oligosaccharides, amino acids, peptides, organic acids, vitamins, and other soluble factors. Dietary inactive yeast has been investigated on different fish species, with beneficial effects reported in growth performance, disease resistance, and gut microbiota [20,21,22]. No direct comparison of the probiotic effects of live and inactivated yeast in fish has been conducted
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