IMPACT OF PROBIOTICS AND PREBIOTICS ON POST-LARVAL FLORIDA POMPANO PRODUCTION AND HEALTH
The commercial production of Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus, has been shown to be feasible based on previous reported joint research projects conducted by FAU-HBOI and the USDA-ARS. Much of the focus of those projects centered on nutrition. Probiotic and prebiotics have been shown to react synergistically, compared to the use of probiotics alone, resulting in enhanced health and production of aquatic species. The present study was conducted to determine whether the addition of various levels of prebiotics to a Bacillus sp. probiotic would enhance the production or health of post-larval Florida pompano over that of a basal diet or that of a basal + Bacillus sp. enhanced diet.
Ten diets were prepared. The basal diet served as the negative control, while a Bacillus sp. dietary addition served as a positive control. Two prebiotics, β-glucan and FOS were substituted for cellulose and added at 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 or 4.0 g/kg-1. There were 4 replicates per treatment. Twenty post-larval Florida pompano (~ 5 g), obtained by ProAquatix, LLC (Vero Beach, FL), were added to one of 40 75-L tanks that were part of an 8,750-L RAS. Fish were reared to ~50 g (~12 weeks). Production data assessed at the end of the experiment included weight gain, specific growth rate and survival. Additional analysis conducted included proximate analysis (whole fish), enzyme analysis (intestinal tissue), and hematological (e.g. blood counts, lysozyme, ACP activity) and immune function assays (e.g. head kidney phagocytic activity, SOD activity).
Production data showed no significant difference between treatment groups based on weight gain (p≤0.120), SGR (p≤0.079), FCR (p≤0.191) and survival (Range 95-100%; p≤0.205). Although production from 5-50 g was not enhanced by addition of pro or prebiotic treatments health parameter evaluations may provide more information concerning treatment groups. These analyses are currently underway and will be reported at AA2020.
