Digestive microbiota of shrimp Penaeus vannamei and oyster Crassostrea gigas co-cultured in integrated multi-trophic aquaculture system

A current practice of marine aquaculture is to integrate different trophic-level organisms to optimise nutrients uptake, improve water quality, and potentially increase economic income. Even though bacterial communities in the intestine of the Pacific white shrimp Penaeus vannamei and in the digestive gland of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas have been studied, the effect of an integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) system in the digestive microbiome of both species is unknown. In the present work, we examined the bacterial communities in the intestine of P. vannamei and digestive gland of C. gigas under monoculture and co-culture in IMTA conditions. The results revealed a higher final weight of shrimp in co-culture compared to monoculture (2.73 ± 0.07 g and 2.47 ± 0.13 g, respectively) (P