Nashad M.^1,2 , Mujeeb Rahiman K.M.¹ , Ajin A.M.¹ , Mohamed Hatha A.A.¹

1 Dept. of Marine Biology, Microbiology and Biochemistry, School of Marine Sciences, Cochin University of Science and Technology, Fine arts Avenue, Cochin, India
2 Nansen Environmental Research Centre, India (NERCI), 6A, Oxford Business Centre (6th Floor), Sreekandath Road, Ravipuram, Kochi 682016, Kerala, India
Author    Correspondence author
International Journal of Aquaculture, 2015, Vol. 5, No. 16   doi: 10.5376/ija.2015.05.0016
Received: 15 Apr., 2015    Accepted: 23 Jul., 2015    Published: 01 Jul., 2015

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Nashad M., Mujeeb Rahiman K.M., Ajin A.M and Mohamed Hatha A.A., 2015, Probiotic Potential of Gut Associated Bacteria from Indigenous Fresh Water Ornamental Fishes of Kerala, South India, International Journal of Aquaculture, 5(16): 1-6 (doi: 10.5376/ija.2015.05.0016)

Probiotic potential of gut associated aerobic and facultative anaerobic bacterial flora of indigenous freshwater fishes such as Puntius filamentosus and Barilius bakeri, were analysed in this study. Total viable count (TVC) of heterotrophic bacteria ranged between 0.64 x 10⁷ to 1.31 x 10⁷ and 0.59 x 10⁷ to 1.92 x 10⁷ per gram in gut of Barilius bakeri and P. filamentosus respectively. While bacteria belonging to the genus Corynebacterium dominated the gut of P. filamentosus, Bacillus was found to be dominant genus in the gut of B. bakeri. More than 50% of bacterial isolates from both these fishes were capable of producing various exoenzymes such as amylase, gelatinase and lipase, with 15% of them showing excellent amylolytic and gelatinolytic activity. Selected bacterial isolates were tested for antagonistic activity against fish, shrimp and human pathogens, which revealed 15% of isolates having antagonistic activity against at least one pathogenic Vibrio species tested. These isolates were further tested for their ability to grow under different temperature, pH and salinity conditions in order to evaluate their suitability for application under different filed conditions. The result of the present study offer scope for further research to evaluate probiotic potential of these gut associated bacteria in the larval rearing system and hatchery operations.

Probiotics; Ornamental fish culture; Gut microflora; Puntius filamentosus; Barilius bakeri