Growth performance and immune response of prebiotic honey fed pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei to Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present study was aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of administration of honey as a prebiotic in improving growth performance, immune response, and resistance of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannameito to Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection. In the present study, the bee honey added to practical diet at levels of 0.0%, 0.25%, 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1.0%. Shrimps were fed one of the tested diets in triplicates for 70 days. After the feeding trial, challenged was conducted with V. parahaemolyticus for two and five days. The growth performance and immune responses of shrimp in treatments with prebiotic honey were better than control one. Pacific white shrimp fed 0.75% honey showed highest survival after bacterial infection (73.33%), while lowest survival was found in the control treatment (43.33%). It may be concluded that the administration of honey at level of 0.75% was effective in improving the growth performance, immune response, and resistance of shrimp to V. parahaemolyticus infection.