Dietary probiotics enhance the immunity of Thai pangas (Pangasius hypophthalmus) against Pseudomonas fluorescens

Abstract

The use of probiotics in aquaculture is now gaining a wide acceptance. This study was conducted to evaluate the commercially available probiotic Bioprob (PIC-BIO company, Tokyo, Japan) on the efficacy of its use on mean immune parameters and Pseudomonas fluorescens disease challenge in Thai pangas (Pangasius hypophthalmus) under laboratory conditions. The fishes were fed with five different experimental pellet diets enriched with 0 g, 0.5 g, 1 g, 1.5 g and 2 g Bioprob probiotic per kg feed that enhanced the immune potentiality investigated on weeks 1, 2 and 4. The phagocytic and bactericidal activity significantly increased in P. hypophthalmus fed with 2 g Bioprob probiotic per kg feed against P. fluorescens on weeks 2 and 4. After the feeding trial, the fishes were injected intraperiotonaly (IP) with 0.2 ml of 1.8 X 10-7 CFU ml-1 pathogenic P. fluorescens. The cumulative mortality was low in T5 (2 g kg-1) whereas high in T2 (0.5 g kg-1) as 68% compared to control (0 g kg-1) as 84% against pathogen. Therefore, dietary probiotics with 2 g kg-1 feed were found to enhance the disease resistance of P. hypophthalmus against P. fluorescens.