Effect of Dietary Supplementation of Brewer's Yeast and GroBiotic-A on Growth, Immune Responses, and Low-Salinity Tolerance of Pacific White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei Cultured in Recirculating Systems
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Two separate trials were conducted in clean recirculating systems at salinities of 32.9 (optimal) and 2 ppt (low-salinity challenge) to evaluate brewer's yeast and GroBiotic-A, a commercial prebiotic, as dietary supplements for growth and health management of Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. The growth-promoting influences of brewer's yeast or GroBiotic-A previously observed with fish were not demonstrated in these trials with shrimp, when each component was supplemented at 2% or 5% of the diet. No significant dietary effects on hematological and immunological responses - including total hemocyte count, hemolymph protein, phenoloxidase, hemocyte respiratory burst, and clearance efficiency of Vibrio harveyi - were observed in shrimp cultured at full strength salinity (30 ppt) in feeding trial 1 after a 10 week period. In a second feeding trial, dietary supplementation of GroBiotic-A improved survival of shrimp cultured at low-salinity (2 ppt). Although the mechanism(s) for enhanced survival under low-salinity conditions by dietary immunostimulants or prebiotics have not been identified, these observations indicate potential use of prebiotics such as GroBiotic-A for shrimp cultured in less than optimal environments.