Effects of Dietary Nucleotides on Growth Rate and Disease Resistance of Crustaceans Using Axenic<i> Artemia</i> 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.