The study of enrichment capability of adult Artemia franciscana with singular or combined administration of Pediococcus acidilactici and fructooligosaccharide

The present study investigates the possibility of enriching adult Artemia franciscana with singular or combined administration of Pediococcus acidilactici and fructooligosaccharide (FOS). The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with four treatments, including synbiotic, P. acidilactici +FOS (T1), probiotic, P. acidilactici (T2), prebiotic, FOS (T3) and control (T4). To evaluate the enrichment of adult Artemia with each treatment, sampling was performed at 2, 4 and 6 hrs post enrichment. The bacterial counts was measured using the microbial culture and expressed as log CFU per g Artemia. A pre-experiment has been designed and probiotic was used in three levels (107, 108 and 109 CFU per litter of suspension) and prebiotic was used in three levels of 1, 2 and 5 g per litter of suspension. Based on pre experiment results, 108 CFU per litter of probiotic and 5 g per litter of prebiotic was selected. The results of this experiment showed that over time, consumed bacteria increased by adult Artemia and there was a significant difference between sampling in terms of ingested bacteria. The highest bacterial count (6.78±0.03 log CFU g-1) was observed 6 hrs after the start of enrichment. Based on microbial culture, the number of bacteria P. acidilactici in T1 and T2 was significantly higher than those in T4 (control) and T3 (prebiotic). There was no significance difference between T2 (probiotic) and T1 (synbiotic). In conclusion, the results of this study showed that adult Artemia in a short time (about 4 hrs) can retain a large amount of probiotic bacteria.