Title : Role of fungal dietary microspheres in improving biological responses in freshwater fish
Abstract:
Microcapsules are increasingly being used in aquaculture for fish growth and immunity. In vivo efficacy of Geotrichum candidum encapsulated with alginate and combined with starch and xanthan with a coated chitosan layer. Labeo rohita fingerlings were equally distributed in 10 groups. Control was fed basal diet and experimental fish was fed probiotic, G. candidum 109 CFU/g, remaining eight groups were fed microspheres based diet prepared with alginate, starch, xanthan and chitosan in different ratios (Alg, Alg-S, Alg-X, Alg-C, Alg-SC, Alg-XC, Alg-CN, Alg-SCN and Alg-XCN). A significant impact of probiotic microspheres was found on growth, feed conversion, enzymatic activities, immunology, lipid profile of fish as compared to fish given basal diet. Chitosan microcapsules of G. candidum resulted in improved performance as compared to fish fed free probiotic. Among chitosan microcapsules, Alg-C showed the significant positive impact on all immunological parameters followed by Alg-C. Chitosan and alginate is best to improve the bioavailability and targeted release of probiotic in GIT tract of L. rohita. Therefore, present study proposes a sustainable substitute for improving biological responses of L. rohita by feeding the diet augmented with Alg-CN microspheres.
