Improving welfare assessment in aquaculture

Browning, Heather

doi:10.3389/fvets.2023.1060720

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 88 publications

(52 reference statements)

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“…Indeed, while some of the indicators used in this study have been extensively applied and validated, for other indicators the literature, especially in non‐model species, is quite limited. In conclusion, our study supports the current concerns about the necessity to develop species‐specific indicators and enrichments for improving the welfare assessment of fish held captive (Browning, 2023; Saraiva et al., 2018; Toni et al., 2019).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Social buffering of behavioural stress response in two fish species, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and koi carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Pintos,

Lucon‐Xiccato,

Vera

et al. 2024

Ethology

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The presence of conspecifics plays a crucial role in mitigating stress responses in social teleost species and holds potential for enhancing welfare in captive fish. While studies on social buffering effects have typically focussed on single species, marked interspecific differences can exist. Here, we conducted an analysis of social buffering of stress response in two of the most extensively farmed fish, the Nile tilapia and the koi carp. Subjects were exposed to a behavioural stress response assay (open‐field test) in three conditions simulating increasing levels of social enrichment: isolation, pairs, or shoals of five fish. We obtained five stress indicators from the assay: thigmotaxis, freezing, activity, erratic movements and interindividual distance in conditions with more than one fish. In both species, erratic movements significantly decreased with increasing levels of social enrichment, suggesting a similar social buffering effect. However, other indicators revealed species differences. Koi carp, but not Nile tilapia, showed a socially‐mediated reduction in thigmotaxis, whereas Nile tilapia, but not Koi carp, showed a socially‐mediated reduction in freezing behaviour. Furthermore, social enrichment determined opposite effects on the activity of the two species: Nile tilapia were more active as group size increased, whereas the opposite trend was found in koi carp. Finally, Nile tilapia showed increased interindividual distance with increasing social group size, whereas no changes were observed for koi carp. Our study indicates that the buffering effects of social enrichment on the behavioural stress response do not completely overlap between different fish species, highlighting the importance of developing finely‐tuned species‐specific enrichments and welfare indicators.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Social buffering of behavioural stress response in two fish species, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and koi carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Pintos,

Lucon‐Xiccato,

Vera

et al. 2024

Ethology

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“…Water bodies are an important source of food for people and animals around the world [21][22][23]. Even the diet of some vegetarians (pescatarian) contains fish [24].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofilm formation and auto-aggregation abilities of novel targeted aqua-probiotics

Մանվելյան¹,

Բալայան²,

Miralimova³

et al. 2023

FFHD

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Background: The probiotics’ auto-aggregation and biofilm formation abilities have a significant role in the development of biotechnological processes.Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the biofilm formation and auto-aggregation abilities of novel, targeted aqua-probiotics isolated from aquatic organisms.Methods: The biofilm formation abilities of Lactobacillus delbrueckii str. UZ-1, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum str. R3, Lactococcus str. UZ-2, Enterococcus faecium str. R2, Pediococcus acidilactici str. N from the culture collection of the Microbiology of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Bacillus subtilis str. 1R, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens str. 4R and from the culture collection of the Southern Federal University of Russa and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus str. 1A and Enterococcus str. 9-3 from the culture collection of the Armenian National Agrarian University were assessed.Results: According to the investigations, the biofilm formation abilities of Lactobacillus delbrueckii str. UZ-1, Lactiplantibacillus plantarum str. R3, Lactococcus str. UZ-2, Enterococcus faecium str. R2, Pediococcus acidilactici str. N, Bacillus subtilis str. 1R, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens str. 4R, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens str. 5R, Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus str. 1A and Enterococcus str. 9-3 were 0.119 ± 0.05D, 0.113 ± 0.065D, 0.196 ± 0.04D, 0.116 ± 0.01D, 0.152 ± 0.05D, 0.74 ± 0.15D, 2.621± 0.55D, 1.831 ± 0.45D, and 0.227 ± 0.04D and 0.483 ± 0.15D respectively. The highest rate of auto-aggregation was shown by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens str. 5R, and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens str. 4R was the strain with the highest ability to form biofilm. These two Bacillus strains are also distinguished by the highest DNA protective properties and relatively low antioxidant activity. Despite the fact that Bacillus amyloliquefaciens str. 5R showed the highest rate of auto-aggregation after 2 hours, this strain showed the lowest level of auto-aggregation among the studied strains after 24 hours. The Enterococcus str. 9-3 strain with the highest antioxidant activity showed 0.483 ± 0.15D biofilm formation ability.Conclusion: The novel targeted aquaprobiotics have distinct biofilm formation and aggregation properties, which are important to consider when planning appropriate biotechnological processes, requiring specific membrane properties of probiotics.Graphical Abstract: Membrane properties of novel targeted aquaprobiotics.Keywords: Lactobacilli, aqua-probiotic, antioxidant activity, biofilm formation, aggregation, Enterococcus str. 9-3

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“…Fish research publications typically do not include score sheets 8,28 , which limits open conversation about useful and implementable quantitative or qualitative parameters for welfare evaluations. A potential ally in experimental fish welfare is the field of aquaculture, where fish welfare translates to disease incidence, growth rates and meat quality and thus to business revenue (e.g., MyFishCheck [48][49][50][51] , but limited mutual interactions impede the transfer of welfare related tools. Together, these challenges result in a lack of resources, expertise and frameworks with regard to fish welfare scoring in experimental research, which poses a serious challenge for researchers in the implementation of the third R for fish, particularly when researchers are new to the organism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An adaptable, user-friendly score sheet to monitor welfare in experimental fish

Flueck-Giraud,

Schmidt-Posthaus,

Bergadano

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Fish are increasingly used as experimental animals in a wide range of research fields. As of 2022, a quarter of all experimental animals used in Europe are fish, with an upward trend. At the same time, less than 20% of these are zebrafish. At the same time, welfare assessments for experimental fish are in their infancy compared to rodents. This can be attributed to the diversity of species used, the relative recency of fish as go-to model for research, and challenges to assess welfare and pain in non-vocal underwater species. The lack of assessment guidelines and easy-to-use tools is a challenge for researchers (particularly, for newcomers to the field of fish), for ethics committees, and prevents the rigorous implementation of the 3Rs (particularly, refinement). Here, we present an adaptable, user-friendly scoring tool for fish. The parameters contained in the tool are based on a literature review, have been validated by expert interviews, and weighted by a fish pathologist. The tool allows to score individuals as well as groups and provides a visualization of trends. We provide the associated literature and give detailed examples and instructions on the adaptation and use of the scoring tool. We hope that this tool to score fish welfare will empower researchers to include welfare assessment in their routines, foster discussions on fish welfare parameters among scientists, facilitate interactions with ethics committees, and most importantly, enable continuous refinement of fish experiments.

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Improving welfare assessment in aquaculture

Cited by 13 publications

References 88 publications

Social buffering of behavioural stress response in two fish species, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and koi carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Social buffering of behavioural stress response in two fish species, Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and koi carp (Cyprinus carpio)

Biofilm formation and auto-aggregation abilities of novel targeted aqua-probiotics

An adaptable, user-friendly score sheet to monitor welfare in experimental fish

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