Influence of different dietary carbohydrate sources on the growth and intestinal microbiota of Litopenaeus vannamei at low salinity

Because of the increasing market potential of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) and limited availability of coastal areas for production, culture of L. vannamei at low salinity is a growing trend throughout the world. Dietary manipulation could improve the growth performance of L. vannamei at low salinity. This study reared L. vannamei with glucose, sucrose and corn starch as dietary carbohydrate sources, respectively, at a low salinity. The results indicated that the sucrose and glucose feeding groups showed better growth performance. An Illumina-based sequencing method was used to examine the intestinal bacterial composition and the results indicated that Proteobacteria were the most prevalent members, but abundance of Actinobacteria decreased while Firmicutes increased in the corn starch-fed group. Furthermore, bacteria related to complex carbohydrate degradation were in lower abundance, whereas the abundance of opportunistic pathogenic bacteria increased in corn starch-fed group than the other two groups, suggesting that the diet imposes selective pressure on the intestinal microbiota. Complex carbohydrates were not the ideal energy sources for L. vannamei at low salinity because the host has higher energy demand in the stressful conditions while the complex carbohydrate degradation efficiency of the gut microbiota in L. vannamei is limited.