Dietary short-chain organic acids enhanced resistance to bacterial infection and hepatopancreatic structural integrity of the giant freshwater prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii

Abstract

The use of short-chain organic acids in the diets of aquacultured animals as a prophylactic to bacterial pathogens is receiving increasing research and commercial interest. After giant freshwater prawns, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, were fed diets supplemented with formic (FA), citric (CA), lactic (LA), propionic acid (PA), an organic acid blend (OAB) at 1% or a control diet (no additives) for 6 weeks, the prawns were subjected to Vibrio harveyi challenge for 2 weeks. From all remaining prawns, the hepatopancreatic histopathology was examined. Results showed that the survival of prawns to V. harveyi challenge was significantly higher (P \ 0.05) when fed the LA diet, followed by the CA diet, than the other treatments. This was likely due to less bacterial-induced hepatopancreatic damage and higher energy reserves compared to those fed the other diets. This is the first report to compare the efficacy of different organic acids to a crustacean as well as showing hepatopancreatic protective properties to freshwater prawns when challenged with pathogenic bacteria. The present study indicated that dietary organic acids can be a viable alternative to the use of harmful antibiotics in the prawn farming industry.

Effects of Microencapsulated Organic Acid and Their Salts on Growth Performance, Immunity, and Disease Resistance of Pacific White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

“…Various alternatives to AGP, such as phytogenic compounds or plant derived essential oils [6,7], probiotic, prebiotic and synbiotic [8,9], enzymes [10,11], organic acids and their salts [2,[12][13][14][15][16], have been proposed in recent years. Organic acids are "Generally Regarded as Safe" compounds often containing one or more carboxyl groups (-COOH) [17,18].…”

Efficacy assessment of commercially available natural products and antibiotics, commonly used for mitigation of pathogenic Vibrio outbreaks in Ecuadorian Penaeus (Litopenaeus) vannamei hatcheries

“…Lactic and citric acids seemed to be the best organic acids to control pathogenic V . harveyi in Macrobrachium rosenbergii [64], but lactic acid can inhibit the pathogenic microbiota of fishes [65]. OA4 contains propionic acid and formic acid, whereas OA7 contains formic acid.…”

Effects of dietary nucleotides on growth performance, immune response, intestinal morphology and disease resistance of juvenile largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides

“…Although antibiotics were usually successful in fighting bacterial disease, their overuse and abuse had led to the spread of antibiotic residues in food and antibiotic‐resistant pathogens in aquatic environments, threatening food safety and health and the control of human diseases (Sahul et al ., 2003). In recent years, some immunomodulatory additives have been considered as an effective method for improving the immune capacity and health status of aquatic animals (Ng et al ., 2017; Wang et al ., 2017; Wee et al ., 2018).…”