Abstract
The hybrid striped bass (Morone chrysops x M. saxatilis) is a carnivorous species and a major product of US aquaculture. To reduce costs and improve resource sustainability, traditional ingredients used in fish diets are becoming more broadly replaced by plant-based products; however, plant meals can be problematic for carnivorous fish. Bioprocessing has improved nutritional quality and allowed higher inclusions in fish diets, but these could potentially affect other systems such as the gut microbiome. In this context, the effects of bioprocessed soybean meal on the intestinal bacterial composition in hybrid striped bass were investigated. Using high-throughput sequencing of amplicons targeting the V1–V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene, no significant difference in bacterial composition was observed between fish fed a control diet, and fish fed a diet with the base bioprocessed soybean meal. The prominent Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) in these samples was predicted to be a novel species affiliated to Peptostreptococcaceae. In contrast, the intestinal bacterial communities of fish fed bioprocessed soybean meal that had been further modified after fermentation exhibited lower alpha diversity (p < 0.05), as well as distinct and more varied composition patterns, with OTUs predicted to be strains of Lactococcus lactis, Plesiomonas shigelloides, or Ralstonia pickettii being the most dominant. Together, these results suggest that compounds in bioprocessed soybean meal can affect intestinal bacterial communities in hybrid striped bass.
Highlights
As a result of the growing market demand for seafood and the depletion of wild fish populations, the aquaculture industry has considerably expanded over the last few decades [1]
A combined total of 15 samples from five of the dietary treatments were selected for investigating the intestinal bacterial composition of hybrid striped bass in response to the inclusion of bioprocessed soybean meal
A combined total of 302,427 high-quality sequence reads, ranging between 5561 and 87,780 sequence reads per sample (Supplementary Table S1), from the V1–V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene were generated from the five diets
Summary
As a result of the growing market demand for seafood and the depletion of wild fish populations, the aquaculture industry has considerably expanded over the last few decades [1]. Of the various fish species available for production, the hybrid striped bass has proven to be well suited for aquaculture because of its high growth performance, survival, and disease resistance, as well as its ability to be reared under a number of different culture systems and conditions [2]. Hybrid striped bass has become one of the leading aquaculture industries in the United States, behind channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) [4]
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