Aquaculture America 2024

February 18 - 21, 2024

San Antonio, Texas

MORTALITY OF STRESS-REARED CHANNEL CATFISH Ictalurus punctatus FED TRYPTOPHAN AND CHALLENGED WITH VIRULENT Aeromonas hydrophila

Israt Mishu1 *, Abdullahi Idowu1, Lindee Mason1, Conrad Anderson2, Timothy Bruce2, Ahmed Mustafa1

 

1Department of Biological Sciences , Purdue University Fort Wayne ,  Fort Wayne,

IN 46805 . Email: mustafaa@pfw.edu

2School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences , Auburn University , Auburn, AL 36849 . Email: tjb0089@auburn.edu

 



 In the US catfish industry, infectious diseases cause significant revenue and financial loss, with millions of fish affected annually. Chronic stress and suboptimal rearing conditions increase  disease susceptibility, causing millions in lost revenue. Historically, chemical s and  drugs have been used to treat  bacterial diseases.  Nevertheless, these treatments are  becoming more restricted since they present numerous side effects on the environment and health safety . Tryptophan is an essential amino acid for fish, and previous studies  have shown that tryptophan could  improve  the  immune response in fish. In this research, we wanted to investigate if tryptophan could increase the immunity and disease resistance in catfish , Ictalurus punctatus, raised in an aquaculture setting .  We had five  different groups for the experiment :  (1) control group;  (2) stressed group;  (3) stressed group challenged with  virulent  Aeromonas hydrophila (vAh; ML09-119);  (4) stressed group treated with tryptophan;  and  (5) stressed group  treated with tryptophan and challenged with vAh . After 72 hours post-infection, we observed a significant reduction in the mortality rate in the stressed group  treated  with tryptophan  and challenged with vAh compared to the stress group not treated with tryptophan and challenged with vAh . Based on this preliminary study,  we can infer  that  tryptophan has a considerable effect in reducing fish susceptibility to mortality caused by  bacterial disease in the face of environmental stressors. The results from this study  could have a significant impact on farming practices in the catfish industry.