Abstract
The composition and stability of microbial communities in aquaculture water are crucial for the healthy growth of shrimp and present considerable risk to aquatic ecosystems. The modified clay (MC) method has been proposed as an efficient and safe solution for the mitigation of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Currently, the effects of MC on microbial communities in aquaculture water remain unknown. Here, we adopted the MC method to regulate shrimp-culture water quality and evaluated the effects of MC on the composition and stability of phytoplankton together with bacteria communities through high-throughput sequencing. On the one hand, a prominent change in the composition of microbial community was observed, with green algae becoming the most abundant genera and pathogens being infrequent in the MC-treated pond, which was more conducive to the growth of shrimp than that in the control pond. Moreover, MC could increase the diversity and stability of the microbial community structure in the water column, which had a higher anti-interference ability, as demonstrated by the analysis of the diversity and molecular ecological network. Taken together, MC could reduce the possibility for the occurrence of HABs and maintain a stable microbial community, which is beneficial for the health and high yield of shrimp.
Highlights
Shrimp aquaculture has grown rapidly over several decades to become an economically important global industry [1]
The high-density and intensive breeding mode produces a large number of unused feed and related metabolites, which enriches the nutrition of aquaculture water and makes it prone to harmful algal blooms (HABs) [2,3], affecting the stability of microbiota structure
We found that Bray–Curtis distance of phytoplankton in the control pond within groups at different times was significantly higher than that in the modified clay (MC) pond (Welch’s t-test, p < 0.001), indicating that the differences of phytoplankton community composition in the control pond varied more distance of bacterial community in the control pond at different times was higher than that in the MC-treated pond
Summary
Shrimp aquaculture has grown rapidly over several decades to become an economically important global industry [1]. The high-density and intensive breeding mode produces a large number of unused feed and related metabolites, which enriches the nutrition of aquaculture water and makes it prone to harmful algal blooms (HABs) [2,3], affecting the stability of microbiota structure. Massive HABs have been documented in shrimp culture ponds from different regions of the world, causing significant worldwide economic losses [4]. The outbreak of HABs significantly increases the ammonia concentration in the water, causing shrimp poisoning and death, or secretes mucus and adheres to shrimp gills, resulting in shrimp dyspnea and even suffocation [4,5].
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