Effect of functional diets on intestinal microbiota and resistance to Vibrio parahaemolyticus causing acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) of Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei)

Abstract

Aims:The present study evaluated the effect of four functional diets and a reference diet on the survival and intestinal bacterial community of shrimp Penaeus vannamei infected with acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND).Methods and Results: After 42 days of feeding trail, shrimp were inoculated with a Vibrio parahaemolyticus (CIB-0018-3) carrying the plasmid encoding for the PirAB toxins responsible for AHPND. After 120 h postinfection (hpi), shrimp fed with a diet containing 2% of a mix with Curcuma longa and Lepidium meyenii (TuMa) and a diet containing 0.2% of vitamin C (VitC) showed a significantly higher survival (85%) compared to the remaining treatments (50%-55%) (p < 0.05). Infected shrimp fed with TuMa diet, showed a significant reduction of Vibrionales, and VitC diet promoted an increase of Alteromonadales. Conclusions:Our findings suggest that the TuMa diet conferred protection against AHPND and could be attributed to a combined effect of antibacterial properties against Vibrionales, and promoting a desirable bacterial community in the shrimp intestine, while the VitC diet protection could be attributed to their antioxidant capacity and in a lower proportion to a bacterial modulation in shrimp gut.Significance and Impact of the Study: Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease is a devastating disease that significantly affects aquaculture production of shrimps.Therefore, the use of functional diets that promote resistance to AHPND represents a valuable tool to reduce the mortality of farmed shrimp.

Exploring the Effect of Functional Diets Containing Phytobiotic Compounds in Whiteleg Shrimp Health: Resistance to Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrotic Disease Caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus

“…Diet F, however, needs to be administered for at least 5 weeks to improve shrimp survival after bacterial challenge. Our results are in line with those recently reported by Quiroz-Guzmán et al [ 39 ], who observed that after 6 weeks of feeding with functional diets containing curcuma and maca or vitamin C, shrimps showed significantly higher survival rates (85%) after bacterial challenge compared to that of the control groups (50%–55%). The strength of our results rests on the shorter feeding schedule with functional diet E (4 weeks vs. 6 weeks in the Quiroz-Guzmán study [ 39 ]), providing similar protective effect against AHPND.…”

“…Our results are in line with those recently reported by Quiroz-Guzmán et al [ 39 ], who observed that after 6 weeks of feeding with functional diets containing curcuma and maca or vitamin C, shrimps showed significantly higher survival rates (85%) after bacterial challenge compared to that of the control groups (50%–55%). The strength of our results rests on the shorter feeding schedule with functional diet E (4 weeks vs. 6 weeks in the Quiroz-Guzmán study [ 39 ]), providing similar protective effect against AHPND. The drop of the shrimp survival after the 5-week feeding schedule compared to the 4-week schedule could indicate that animals were more vulnerable at that time for unknown reasons that might be investigated in future studies.…”

“…The drop of the shrimp survival after the 5-week feeding schedule compared to the 4-week schedule could indicate that animals were more vulnerable at that time for unknown reasons that might be investigated in future studies. Differences in mortality observed between our study and that of Quiroz-Guzmán et al [ 39 ] could also be due to the challenge model; they used an injection method, and we selected bath immersion, simulating the natural mode of transmission of the disease. This fact highlights the importance of standardizing infection methods in order to compare study results easily and reliably.…”

“…Interestingly, the same authors suggested that the beneficial effect of TuMA diet (containing turmeric and maca) could be due to the combined antibacterial properties against Vibrionales, especially V. parahaemolyticus , and the promotion of a desirable bacterial community in the shrimp intestine [ 39 ]. We did not study how functional diets affected the gut microbiota composition; but we assessed another approach, the V. parahaemolyticus loads in HP of survivors after induced infection.…”

“…However, there is little information regarding the effects of functional feed additives for controlling shrimp bacterial diseases [ 36 , 37 , 38 ]. In recent studies, shrimp fed diets containing ethanol extracts of turmeric ( Curcuma longa ), maca ( Lepidium meyenii ), and ginger (Zingiber officenale ) inhibited the growth of Vibrio species and the formation of biofilms of V. parahaemolyticus [ 39 , 40 ]. In addition, other authors demonstrated that specific molecules such as vitamin C, essential aminoacids (arginine), and sodium ascorbate improve the immune response in shrimp and confer protection against Vibrio infection [ 18 , 36 , 39 , 41 ].…”