Effect of Brachionus plicatilis and Navicula sp. on Pacific white shrimp growth performance, Vibrio, immunological responses and resistance to white spot virus (WSSV) in nursery biofloc system

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Brachionus plicatilis and Navicula sp. addition on growth performance, Vibrio count, immunological responses and resistance to white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) of Litopenaeus vannamei in nursery biofloc system. The study was divided into two phases and four treatments were examined in the first phase: BFT (biofloc); BFT-N (addition of 10×104 cells mL−1 of Navicula sp.); BFT-B (addition of 30 org mL−1 of B. plicatilis) and; BFT-BN (addition of 10×104 cells mL−1 of Navicula sp. and 30 org mL−1 of B. plicatilis), all in triplicate and; the second phase included a viral challenge, also in triplicate. Shrimp (PL10, 2 ± 0,01 mg) were reared in biofloc system (fertilized with inorganic and anaerobic and aerobic carbon process with a microbial mix), for 45 days at a density of 3000 shrimp m-3, with controlled temperature, without water exchange and fed with commercial feed. The diatoms and rotifers were added every 10 days, and at the end, shrimp performance, water quality, Vibrio count and total hemocyte count were evaluated. After 45 days, 300 shrimp m−3 were challenged with WSSV (2.2 × 107 copies of WSSV μL−1 of DNA) for 9 days. The BFT-N, BFT-B and BFT-BN treatments had higher values of final weight (1.02 to 1.16 g) and yield (2.85 to 3.30 kg m−3) which were higher than the BFT (0.86 g and 2.46 kg m−3). There were no differences in water quality among treatments. Vibrio count from water samples was significantly lower at the end of experiment with significant decrease of non-sucrose-fermenting gram-negative bacteria. However, for hepatopancreas, the Vibrio count was significant higher at the end, however with significantly increase of sucrose-fermenting gram-negative bacteria (98 to 100%). There was no significant difference between the THC and hyalyne count for all treatments. Massive mortality rate was firstly achieved in BFT and BFT-B treatments in the second phase. However, all treatments reported complete mortality and WSSV infection was confirmed by nested-PCR and histopathologically, with lesions suggestive of WSD (presence of nodules and tissue deformations). The Navicula sp. and B. plicatilis addition contributed to better performance parameters of shrimp in the nursery biofloc system, although there was no significant effect on the WSSV resistance of shrimp. Absence of tissue degeneration in WSSV infected shrimp from BFT-N treatment indicated benefit of using diatoms under standardized conditions.