Probiotic Applications in Cold Water Fish Species - Aquaculture Nutrition: Gut Health, Probiotics and Prebiotics - page 223

9 Probiotic Applications in Cold Water Fish

Species

Hélène L. Lauzon 1 , Tania Pérez-Sánchez 2 , Daniel L.
Merrifield 3 , Einar Ringø 4 and José Luis Balcázar 5
1 Matís ohf, Reykjavík, Iceland
2 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universidad de Zaragoza, Spain
3 School of Biological Sciences, Plymouth University, UK
4 Norwegian College of Fishery Science, UiT The Arctic University of Norway,
Tromsø, Norway
5 Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA), University of Girona, Spain

ABSTRACT

Cold water fish species are an important contributor to aquaculture production in many coun-
tries. However, in large-scale production facilities, where aquatic animals are exposed to stress-
ful conditions, problems related to disease and deterioration of environmental conditions often
occur and result in serious economic losses. Concerted research efforts have therefore been
focused on optimizing production through environmentally friendly alternatives to the use of
chemotherapeutic agents. Probiotics offer a potential alternative because they may confer ben-
efits to the host by providing both nutritional benefit and protection against pathogens. Some
benefits linked to the administration of probiotics include the production of inhibitory com-
pounds, competition for essential nutrients and adhesion sites, inhibition of virulence gene
expression or disruption of quorum sensing, the supply of essential nutrients and enzymes
resulting in enhanced nutrition, and the modulation of interactions with the environment and
the development of beneficial immune responses. Although many in vivo studies suggest that
probiotics may confer benefits to cold water fish species, future studies should be focused
on providing practical industrial-scale applications, including a cost-benefit analysis. Addi-
tionally, a better understanding of microbe-host and microbe-microbe interactions in the
gastrointestinal (GI) tract and surrounding environment is needed in order to achieve an opti-
mal utilization.

9.1 INTRODUCTION

To achieve a sustainable aquaculture industry, diversification of fish species may be con-
sidered as the first step towards success. Several cold water fish species (loosely defined