Characterization of microbial communities in intensive GIFT tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) pond systems during the peak period of breeding

Abstract

Aquaculture pond is a complex ecosystem where the microorganisms in the sediments, in the animal intestinal tract and in water interact with each other to influence the water quality and health of aquatic animals. In order to understand the spatial distribution and relationship of microbial communities in intensively farmed genetically improved farmed tilapia (GIFT, Oreochromis niloticus), 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing was applied to analyse the 16S rRNA gene of bacteria in intensive GIFT ponds in Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province, China. A total of 72 747 initial sequences were obtained from four depths of pond water, from tilapia large intestines and from pond sediment. The most common phylum in all samples was Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria and Cyanobacteria were the most abundant in water, Fusobacteria and Firmicutes in the large intestine and Chloroflexi in sediment samples. The sediment microbial community structure was comparatively similar to that of the tilapia large intestine. The microbial communities from different water depths were somewhat similar, especially the three most shallow samples, although the abundance of Actinobacteria gradually decreased with increased water depth. This data offer a preliminary exploration of the response mechanisms of the bacterial communities to aquafarming and contributes to the understanding of the status of bacterial communities of tilapia pond systems during the peak period of breeding from the aspect of their spatial distributions.

Effect ofArthrospirasupplementation onOreochromis niloticusgut microbiota and flesh quality

“…In this study, Fusobacteria represented 36%, while other authors such as Fan et al () reported 26%, Zhai et al () 56%, Gaikwad, Shouche, and Gade () 45% or Ran et al () 34%. Although not all samples of the present study responded to this pattern, high values of Fusobacteria seem characteristic of Oreochromis sp., especially compared to other species like H. molitrix <12% (Ye, Amberg, Chapman, Gaikowski, & Liu, ), S. salar <7% (Dehler, Secombes, & Martin, ; Gajardo et al, ) or O. mykiss <1% (Huyben et al, ).…”

“…In this study, Fusobacteria represented 36%, while other authors such as Fan et al (2015) (Dehler, Secombes, & Martin, 2017;Gajardo et al, 2016) or O. mykiss <1% (Huyben et al, 2017). Merrifield and Ringo (2014) argue that the average content of Fusobacteria in common commercial fish is below 7%.…”

“…V2 is best to distinguish between mycobacterial species and V3 among Haemophilus species. Other authors , such as Fan et al (), Giatsis et al () and Gajardo et al (), who worked with tilapia have also used the V1‐V2 region, so we thought it was best to use the same regions in order to facilitate comparisons. Barcoded amplicons from the V1‐V2 (~310 bp) region of 16S rRNA genes were generated by PCR using the 27F‐DegS primer (GAG TTT GAT CMT GGC TCA G), as a reverse primer and an equimolar mix of two primers 338RI (GCW GCC TCC CGT AGG AGT) and 388RII (GCW GCC ACC CGT AGG TGT).…”

Spatial and temporal succession of bacterial communities in three artificial fishponds

“…Qin et al () reported that the abundance of bacterial 16S rRNA genes in ponds with grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idellus ) fed Sudan grass was significantly lower than that in ponds with grass carp fed commercial feed. In previous studies, significant changes were observed in the microbial community under different stocking densities in tilapia fishponds (Fan, Barry, et al, ; Fan, Chen, et al, ).…”

“…Microbes play a vital role in the conversion and metabolism of organic matter in aquaculture environments and are considered to be sensitively influenced by changes in aquaculture activities (Lücker et al, ; Pantoja, Sepúlveda, & González, ; Rodriguez‐Brito et al, ; Stephens et al, ; Xia et al, ). For example, the design of rearing systems, the supplementation of formulated feed, and different stocking densities can alter microbial community assemblies in fishponds (Fan, Chen, et al, ; Giatsis et al, ; Qin et al, ). Giatsis et al () reported that the steering of the microbial community in the gut of Nile tilapia ( Oreochromis niloticus ) could be possible through water microbial management derived by the rearing environment.…”