A future vision for disease control in shrimp aquaculture

Abstract

Aquaculture is the fastest‐growing animal production sector, and shrimp production already exceeds that of the capture fishery. Viruses and bacteria account for the majority of disease losses for shrimp farmers. Viral pandemics in the mid 1990s and, more recently, a bacterial pandemic from 2009 to 2015 have led to the conclusion that future, sustainable shrimp aquaculture will depend on the development of more efficient, biosecure production facilities that cultivate specific pathogen‐free (SPF) shrimp, genetically improved for growth and disease tolerance or resistance. Major requirements for development, maintenance, and use of SPF stocks in aquaculture are effective pathogen surveillance and disease prevention methods. When protective measures fail and diseases occur in production ponds, there are currently only a few approved and practical therapeutic methods available for use with bacterial pathogens and none so far for viral pathogens. To improve existing methods of prevention and therapy and to develop new ones, research is being carried out on the nature of shrimp–pathogen interactions. Promising results have been obtained at the laboratory level for possible applications involving the use of immunostimulants for “immune priming” or “trained immunity” of RNA interference and of endogenous viral elements. Some of these promising new directions are discussed.

The effects of water additive Bacillus cereus and Pediococcus acidilactici on water quality, growth performances, economic benefits, immunohematology and bacterial flora of whiteleg shrimp (Penaeus vannamei Boone, 1931) reared in earthen ponds

“…This is less understood in which way of inclusion probiotics can be more beneficial, supplementing to the diets or adding to the water. The mechanism of probiotics action to boost the immune response can be attributed to their adhesion to the digestive tract epithelium in which they prevent from colonizing of other pathogenic factors, their neutralization of the bacteria's activity and stimulating non‐specific immune system (Flegel, ; Soltani et al, ). Regarding our work, the possible reason can be the fact that when probiotics are available in water, shrimp can absorb cells as much as they want.…”

“…According to the German definition, probiotics are defined as viable microorganisms, sufficient amounts of which reach the intestine in an active state and thus exert positive health effects (De Vrese & Schrezenmeir, 2008). Probiotics are common feed additives in shrimp production that have caused improving growth performance, gut microflora modification, stimulation of digestive enzymes activities and increased resistance to diseases (Flegel, 2019;Li et al, 2018;Toledo, Frizzo, Signorini, Bossier, & Arenal, 2018). The mechanism of action includes the following: producing materials in order to prevent the growth and proliferation of pathogenic factors, prompting a competition in absorbing the essential food materials and occupying intestine surface.…”

Thermal challenge of the Indian shrimpPenaeus indicus

“…Breeding program should be the next step to fully exploit these advantages of P. indicus and to improve its growth rate. Successful breeding programs have significantly improved productivity, efficiency and stability of global aquaculture production of P. vannamei and P. monodon (Coman, ; Flegel, ; Moss, Moss, Arce, Lightner, & Lotz, ). Recent advances in ‘omics’ research and genomics breeding (Guppy et al, ) could allow us to realize these potential benefits of P. indicus much faster.…”

“…AHPND has caused massive losses to the global shrimp farming industry since 2010. During summer in Asia, AHPND is more problematic to major aquaculture species such as P. vannamei and P. monodon (Flegel, ).…”

“…During summer in Asia, AHPND is more problematic to major aquaculture species such as P. vannamei and P. monodon (Flegel, 2019). Thus, P. indicus, if able to cope with high water temperature, may be a more suitable candidate for farming during summer, especially in AHPND-infected areas.…”