Probiotics in shellfish aquaculture

The shellfish aquaculture industry has dramatically developed during the last two decades. However, this development has, in some cases, resulted in environmental degradation, emergence of diseases and low productivity. The need for improving disease resistance, growth performance, feed efficiency, and safe aquatic production for human consumption has stimulated development and applications of probiotics in aquaculture. Probiotics used in shellfish aquaculture include genera of Lactobacillus, Enterococcus, Bacillus, Aeromonas, Alteromonas, Arthrobacter, Bifidobacterium, Clostridium, Paenibacillus, Phaeobacter, Pseudoalteromonas, Pseudomonas, Rhodosporidium, Roseobacter, Streptomyces and Vibrio. The beneficial effects of these probiotics include improved growth performance, enzymatic contribution to nutrition, inhibition of adherence and colonization of pathogenic bacteria in the digestive tract, modulation of the gut microbiota, and increase haematological parameters and immune response. The present review addressed insight into the application of probiotics in shellfish aquaculture, methods of administration, mode of actions, and their enhancing effects, and discuss research gaps and issues that merit further investigations.