Research Publications (Food Safety)

Abstract This study investigated the disparities in soil characteristics and pathogenic bacteria prevalence between shrimp ponds affected by acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) and unaffected ponds, alongside examining the spatial distribution of soil attributes in flat‐oriented pond soil strata.

Abstract The efficacy of dietary β‐glucan supplementation in golden trevally (Gnathanodon speciosus) was evaluated. The fish were fed five different diets supplemented with 0%, 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.20%, and 0.40% β‐glucan for 56 days. After 56 days of culture, survival was the highest when the fish were fed a 0.10% β‐glucan diet. Growth rates were higher in fish fed diets supplemented with all β‐glucan levels.

Abstract The New Zealand's Greenshell™ mussel (Perna canaliculus) aquaculture industry is being affected by summer mortality events associated with increasing seawater temperatures and pathogens. In this study, challenge experiments were conducted to investigate, for the first time, the effects of pathogen coinfection on the survivability and haemolymph immune responses of juvenile and adult mussels.

Abstract A supplemental effect of Achyranthes aspera extract (200 mg/kg phytosterol) in diets was evaluated for Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) on growth performance, digestibility, innate immunity, antioxidant capacity, and disease resistance against Vibrio parahaemolyticus. A fish meal and soybean meal‐based control diet (Con; protein 38.0% and lipid 8.7%) was formulated and five other diets were prepared by adding A.

Abstract Antibiotic drugs (ABD) are often used in shrimp farms to treat the disease when a bacterial diagnosis is presumed. This scenario was the impetus to carry out a field survey to define how ABD are employed in the State of Sonora, the second largest producer of shrimp in Mexico. Twenty‐nine farms were surveyed through their general managers.

Abstract An acute infectious disease of northern sheatfish (Silurus soldatovi) was found in a commercial aquaculture pond in Tianjin, China. Herein, two dominant bacterial strains were isolated from naturally diseased northern sheatfish and identified as Aeromonas veronii and Vibrio cholerae. Seven healthy and seven naturally diseased fish that were collected from the pond were used for the gut microbiota analysis by high‐throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing.

Abstract The study aimed to evaluate the effect of tributyrin on the growth performance, survival, hypoxia tolerance, and nutrient digestibility of Pacific white shrimp fed 25% and 50% soybean meal (SBM) diets. Six experimental diets were formulated: (1) 25% SBM without tributyrin; (2) 25% SBM with 0.05% tributyrin; (3) 25% SBM with 0.1% tributyrin; (4) 50% SBM without tributyrin; (5) 50% SBM with 0.05% tributyrin; and (6) 50% SBM with 0.1% tributyrin.

Abstract Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a significant causal agent of acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND), with huge production losses of white leg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, cultivated globally, including aquaculture farms in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam. Controlling this disease is critical because of the worldwide expansion of antimicrobial‐resistant V. parahaemolyticus isolates. The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of multi‐antibiotic resistance (MAR) in V.

Abstract Soybean meal (SBM) is widely used in shrimp feed agro‐industry as a fish meal (FM) replacement. However, high levels of SBM may compromise animal health as a result of nutrient imbalance.

Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, EarlyView. Natural plant extracts (NPEs) may offer an effective alternative to minimize the consequences caused by antibiotic resistance in the marine industry. In this study, the anti-Vibrio parahaemolyticus activities of several antibiotics and NPEs alone and in combinations were evaluated.

Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, EarlyView. To evaluate the protective effect of baicalin against a Vibrio parahaemolyticus challenge, immune parameters were analyzed and RNA interference (RNAi) was performed in the present study. The results from challenge tests showed that the cumulative mortalities in the 200 and 400 mg/kg baicalin groups after challenge with V.

Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, EarlyView. Aeromonas hydrophila causes sepsis and is responsible for significant economic losses in Asian finless eel (Monopterus albus) aquaculture. Previous studies have found that macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) and Cathepsin B (CTSB) may be expressed in many vertebrate tissues and organs. However, there have been no reports discussing the importance of MIF and CTSB in Asian swamp eel.

The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of poly‐β‐hydroxybutyrate (PHB)‐supplemented diets for rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) fingerlings. For this purpose, three experimental diets were prepared to contain 0, 2, and 5% PHB; and each diet was tested in a completely randomized design for 60 days in quadruple groups of 22 fish per tank.

The role of dietary lemon peel (LM) and/or Bacillus licheniformis (BL) on the growth, immunity, and resistance against Aeromonas hydrophila in common carp, Cyprinus carpio was investigated in this study. LM and BL were included in diets at 0% (T0), 108 CFU/g BL (T1), 1.5% LM and 108 CFU/g BL (T2), and 3% LM and 108 CFU/g BL (T3).

The purpose of this study was to investigate the dietary effects of using essential oil from sour lemon peel (Citrus limon) on growth performance, carcass composition, blood and serum parameters, and liver enzymes of juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) exposed to deltamethrin (DMN) pesticide.

Use of plant‐based ingredients in aquafeeds, especially for carnivorous species, is likely to increase in view of concerns regaridng the sustainability, price, and availability of fishmeal.

With the declaration of a national emergency in early March of 2020, the United States formally joined the list of countries around the world implementing nonessential business closures and social distancing policies in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19). As individuals, businesses, and the U.S. government responded to protect public health and combat the spread of the novel coronavirus disease, our collective actions have not been without consequences.

The Pacific white shrimp Penaeus vannamei is cultivated worldwide and is an important economic resource in Mexico. Despite continuous development of shrimp aquaculture in Mexico, this activity has exhibited variable production rates because of health‐related problems.

Fish‐eating birds prey and scavenge on catfish ponds with outbreaks of an emergent, atypical Aeromonas hydrophila (AAH) and may play a critical role in the pond‐to‐pond spread of AAH. The objectives of this study were to: (a) determine if great egrets that consumed AAH‐infected fish shed enough AAH in their feces to cause a disease outbreak and (b) determine the environmental factor(s) and animal vector(s) associated with epidemic AAH dissemination.

The phenotypic characteristics and growth kinetics at several temperatures, salinities, and pH values of three Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) strains with different virulence and one nonpathogenic strain were evaluated. Independent of the virulence of the strain, a high metabolic diversity was found, which yielded different colored phenotypes on the CHROMagar™ Vibrio. All strains were resistant to ampicillin and carbenicillin, and Vp AHPND+ organisms were the most sensitive to enrofloxacin.

An 8‐week feeding trial with juvenile hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus × Oreochromis aureus) was conducted to assess the effects of dietary phenylalanine on growth, body composition, and biochemical parameters in plasma. Six diets were formulated with graded levels of l‐phenylalanine (0.43, 0.74, 1.01, 1.30, 1.60, and 1.91% of the diet). Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups with 20 fish per replicate (5.63 ± 0.04 g).

A 10‐week feeding trial aimed to investigate the effects of dietary vitamin C (l‐ascorbic acid) on growth, antioxidant activity, and immunity in ricefield eel, Monopterus albus. Six diets were formulated with different levels of vitamin C supplementation (0.1, 17.5, 34.8, 68.6, 139.7, and 278.5 mg/kg). The results indicated that the weight gain (WG) of the M. albus fed the diets with vitamin C was remarkably higher than that of the M.

Acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease (AHPND) causes massive mortality in shrimp ponds within the first month poststocking. The causative agent is a specific strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus (VPAHPND) that has acquired the capability to produce virulent binary toxins called ToxA and ToxB. This study aims to test the effect of the addition of an autoinducer‐2‐containing cell‐free supernatant (CFS) from the mutant Vibrio harveyi (VH) on growth and toxin production of VPAHPND.