Vibrio harveyi and the 'green water culture' of Penaeus monodon

The “greenwater culture” of the tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, is an innovative culture technique for the grow-out rearing of shrimps. This culture method involves the use of rearing water of tilapia for the rearing of tiger shrimp in grow-out ponds and or the polyculture of shrimp with tilapia. This culture technique was reported to prevent disease outbreaks attributed to luminescent Vibrio. To understand the possible mechanisms of luminous Vibrio control in the green water culture system several studies were conducted. This review summarizes the highlights obtained so far from these studies consisting of a) effect of rearing waters from tilapia culture and shrimp cultured with tilapia on Vibrio harveyi; b) estimation and preliminary identification of cultivable bacteria, fungi and phytoplankton flora associated with the “green water culture” system and c) detection of anti-Vibrio harveyi metabolites from bacteria, yeast, filamentous fungi and phytoplankton indigenous to the “green water culture” system.