Biological Help for the Human RaceTM Effects of BiOWiSHTM MultiBio Technology on Growth Performance, Gut Microbiota, and Pathogen Resistance in L. vannamei Shrimp

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) estimates that half of the world’s seafood demand will be met by aquaculture in 2020, as wild-capture fisheries are overexploited and in decline [Moriarty, 1999]. Due to intensive farming practices in shrimp aquaculture (high stocking densities in hatchery tanks and ponds), the industry is beset with increasing disease issues, mostly due to pathogenic bacteria (especially Vibrio spp.) and viruses. Antibiotics have been used to treat these issues primarily from a clinical therapeutic perspective. That is, the disease was treated, rather than its underlying cause. Sub-therapeutic levels of prophylactic antibiotics are commonly used in large quantities, even when the pathogens are not evident. This is leading to a growing concern on the overuse of these technologies with the risk of increasing antibiotic resistance. In turn, this has increasingly led to the introduction of tighter controls on the use of antibiotics during production and particularly to meet export standards for developed markets.