The major hindrance in the development and sustainability of aquaculture industry is the occurrence of various diseases in the farming systems. Today, preventive and management measures are central concern to overcome such outbreak of diseases. Immunostimulants are considered as an effective tool for enhancing immune status of cultured organisms. Among different immunostimulants used in aquaculture practices, β-glucan is one of the promising immunostimulant, which is a homopolysaccharide of glucose molecule linked by the glycoside bond. It forms the major constituents of cell wall of some plants, fungi, bacteria, mushroom, yeast, and seaweeds. Major attention on β-glucan was captivated with the gain in knowledge on its receptors and the mechanism of action. The receptor present inside the animal body recognizes and binds to β-glucan, which in turn renders the animal with high resistance and enhanced immune response. This review highlights β-glucan as an immunostimulant, its effective dosages, and route of administration and furthermore provides an outline on role of β-glucan in enhancing growth, survival, and protection against infectious pathogens pertaining to fishes and shellfishes. Study also summarizes the effect of β-glucan on its receptors, recognition of proteins, immune-related enzymes, immune-related gene expression and their mechanisms of action.

Six iso-nitrogenous (350 g protein kg )1 ) and iso-caloric (4100 kcal kg )1 ) diets with or without probiotics supplementation namely T 1 (Basal feed (BF) without probiotics; control), T 2 (BF + Bacillus subtilis and Lactococcus lactis), T 3 (BF + L. lactis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae), T 4 (BF + B. subtilis and S. cerevisiae), T 5 (BF + B. subtilis, L. lactis and S. cerevisiae) and T 6 (BF + heat-killed bacteria of B. subtilis, L. lactis and S. cerevisiae) were fed to Labeo rohita fingerlings (6.0 ± 0.06 g) for 60 days in triplicate tanks (30 fish per tank). In all probiotic-supplemented diets, the probiotic concentration was maintained at 10 11 cfu kg )1 feed. After 60 days of culture, the fish fed combination of three probiotics at equal proportion (T 5 ) had higher (P < 0.05) growth, protein efficiency ratio, nutrient retention and digestibility and lower (P > 0.05) feed conversion ratio over other treatment groups. Total heterotrophic bacterial population in intestine was drastically reduced on 15th and 30th days of sampling than the initial value (0 day of sampling) for T 3 , T 4 and T 5 groups. Except T 6 , the gut colonization of respective probiotics, which were supplemented through the diets, was also increased up to 30 days of culture of fish and thereafter remained constant. KEY WORDS

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Probiotics play an important role in growth increment, immune enhancement and stress mitigation in fish. Increasing temperature is a major concern in present aquaculture practices as it markedly deteriorates the health condition and reduces the growth in fish. In order to explore the possibilities of using probiotics as a counter measure for temperature associated problems, a 30 days feeding trial was conducted to study the hemato-immunological and apoptosis response of Labeo rohita (8.3±0.4 g) reared at different water temperatures, fed with or without dietary supplementation of a probiotic mixture (PM) consisting of Bacillus subtilis, Lactococcus lactis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) (1011 cfu kg−1). Three hundred and sixty fish were randomly distributed into eight treatment groups in triplicates, namely, T1(28°C+BF(Basal feed)+PM), T2(31°C+BF+PM), T3(34°C+BF+PM), T4(37°C+BF+PM), T5(28°C+BF), T6(31°C+BF), T7(34°C+BF) and T8(37°C+BF). A significant increase (P<0.01) in weight gain percentage was observed in the probiotic fed fish even when reared at higher water temperature (34–37°C). Respiratory burst assay, blood glucose, erythrocyte count, total serum protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase and acid phosphatase were significantly higher (P<0.01) in the probiotic fed groups compared to the non-probiotic fed groups. A significant (P<0.01) effect of rearing temperature and dietary probiotic mixture on serum myeloperoxidase activity, HSP70 level and immunoglobulin production was observed. Degree of apoptosis in different tissues was also significantly reduced in probiotic-supplemented groups. Hence, the present results show that a dietary PM could be beneficial in enhancing the immune status of the fish and also help in combating the stress caused to the organism by higher rearing water temperature.

A 45-day feeding trial was conducted to study the stress ameliorating and immunomodulatory role of microbial levan in Cyprinus carpio fry exposed to sublethal dose (1/10th LC 50 ) of fipronil [(±)-5amino-1-(2,6-dichloro-a,a,a-trifluoro-p-tolyl)-4-trifluoromethylsulfinylpyrazole-3-carbonitrile].Two hundred and twenty-five fry were randomly distributed in five treatments in triplicates. Four purified diets were prepared with graded levels of microbial levan. Five different treatment groups were levan control L 0 P 0 (basalfeed + 0% levan without exposure to pesticide); pesticide control L 0 P 1 (basalfeed + 0% levan with exposure to pesticide); L 0.25 P 1 (basalfeed + 0.25% levan with exposure to pesticide); L 0.50 P 1 (basalfeed + 0.50% levan with exposure to pesticide) and L 0.75 P 1 (basalfeed + 0.75% levan with exposure to pesticide). Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), malate dehydrogenase (MDH) and fructose-1,6-diphosphatase (FDPase) activites were significantly (P < 0.05) increased, whereas alkaline phosphatase (ALP), adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) and acetyl choline esterase (AchE) activities were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced in higher levan-fed groups. RBC, haemoglobin and WBC counts were significantly (P < 0.05) increased in the levan-fed groups. Similar trends were also observed for the total serum protein, globulin, NBT and lysozyme activities. Blood glucose and serum cortisol exhibited a third order polynomial relationship with increasing level of dietary levan. Overall result showed stress ameliorating, immunostimulating and protective role of microbial levan against fipronil-induced stress in C. carpio fry at 0.75% level of dietary levan supplementation.

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A feeding trail of 60 days was conducted for delineating the effect of dietary aflatoxin (AFB1) with or without supplementation of a mixture of mould inhibitor (0.25% clove oil + 0.32% sodium propionate) on haematology, respiratory burst activity and histology of Labeo rohita fingerlings. Three hundred and sixty fishes (avg. wt. 1.48-1.54 g) were randomly distributed into eight treatment groups. Eight experimental diets with four different levels of aflatoxin (0, 10, 20 and 40 ppb) with or without mould inhibitor were prepared. Haematological parameters like total serum protein, albumin, globulin and A:G ratio were significantly (P < 0.05) reduced with increasing levels of aflatoxin in the diet. However, supplementation of mould inhibitor showed enhanced values when compared to non-supplemented counter parts suggesting ameliorating effects of mould inhibitor on aflatoxin. Total leucocyte count was higher in aflatoxin-treated groups. Histological observations were complementary to haematological parameters. Respiratory burst activity was significantly (P < 0.05) decreased in higher aflatoxin-treated groups but not affected significantly (P > 0.05) due to inclusion of inhibitor alone and/or interaction of aflatoxin level and inhibitor in the diet. From this study, it was concluded that up to 20 ppb aflatoxin level in the diet the haemato-immunological parameters are protected.

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