Effects of Dietary Nucleotides on Growth Rate and Disease Resistance of Crustaceans Using Axenic Artemia Culture Tests

Abstract

Effects of dietary nucleotides on growth and disease resistance of crustaceans were evaluated using axenic Artemia culture tests. Higher Artemia growth in xenic culture (15.6 ± 2.9 mm) than in axenic culture (9.2 ± 1.9 mm) reaffirmed the need to eliminate microbial populations known to influence growth and disease resistance. The study further demonstrated that dietary nucleotides supplementation at 0.005% significantly improved growth as demonstrated by higher body length (11.3 ± 3.4 mm) compared to the control (9.5 ± 1.3 mm). The nucleotides also led to improved disease resistance as demonstrated by significantly higher survival (38.3 ± 4.4%) compared to the control (16.7 ± 1.7%) after a challenge with Vibrio proteolyticus.

Key words: Artemia, axenic culture, nucleotides, crustacea.