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Effect of aerobic Gram-positive heterotrophic bacteria associated with Artemia franciscana cysts on the survival and development of its larvae

2002; Elsevier BV; Volume: 213; Issue: 1-4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0044-8486(02)00026-1

1873-5622

César Orozco-Medina, Alejandro M. Maeda-Martínez, Alejandro López‐Cortés,

Aquatic life and conservation

The study of bacterial interaction with crustaceans used in aquaculture, such as the brine shrimp Artemia, is gaining importance. It is presumed that some bacteria provide nutritional elements, and/or have the capacity to function as probiotics. In this work, aerobic Gram-positive heterotrophic bacteria associated with commercial Artemia cysts were isolated. According to molecular analyses, these bacteria corresponded to the genera Microbacterium and Exiguobacterium. No previous record of these bacteria in association with Artemia cysts exists, nor are there studies of their effect on Artemia culture. In this study, nauplii of Artemia franciscana Kellogg, 1906 were challenged in 6-day-monoxenic cultures with three bacteria strains: Microbacterium sp. A, Microbacterium sp. B, and Exiguobacterium sp. Also, a putative pathogenic strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus was tested for comparative purposes. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of these bacteria on the survival, growth, and development of Artemia larvae. Microbacterium sp. B and V. parahaemolyticus negatively affected Artemia larvae (survival 80%). However, the mixture of the harmless bacteria in a dixenic culture had a significant positive effect on the growth and development of Artemia larvae. On the basis of these results, it is suggested that Microbacterium sp. A and Exiguobacterium sp. are potential candidates as probiotic bacteria for the culture of Artemia larvae. The results of the challenge tests demonstrated that the protocol to obtain and culture bacteria-free Artemia larvae, using autoclaved baker's yeast as food, was a useful standardized tool to evaluate the effect of bacteria strains on the survival and development of this crustacean. The method was an in vivo, small-scale (monoxenic or dixenic) test, which was in line with the rationale for the search for probiotics in aquaculture.