Efficacy of Probiotics on Growth and Sustainable Production of Black Tiger Shrimp, Penaeus monodon Fabricius 1798 in Brackishwater Ponds of West Bengal, India

Probiotics are bio-friendly agents which have been recently used in sustainable forms of aquaculture to produce shrimp. In the present study, the efficacy of probiotics was assessed by counting both the beneficial (total heterotrophic bacteria; THB) and pathogenic (green Vibrio and luminous Vibrio) bacteria vis-à-vis harvest outcomes (survival, body weight, feed conversion and production) of cultured shrimp, Penaeus monodon Fabricius 1798. During the 105-day culture period, soil quality ( redox potential, organic matter and organic carbon) and water qual i ty ( transparency, NH4-N, NO2-N, NO3-N) par ameter s changed significantly (p 0.05) and favoured better environment for growth of shrimp in probiotics treated ponds than in the control. Microbial count of THB was significantly higher (p 0.01) in treated ponds but a reverse result was obtained for both green Vibrio and luminous Vibrio (p 0.05, 0.01) count which were higher in the control ponds. After harvest, a significantly higher growth and production yield (p 0.05, 0.01) of shrimp in the treatment ponds suggested that probiotics played a vital role on better growth and sustainable production of black tiger shrimp by modulating the bacterial population and improving the pond environment.