The probiotics and their metabolites in aquaculture. A review

Abstract

Background: Currently, aquaculture produces half of the fish consumed in the world. In Mexico, this activity must tend towards sustainability, favoring that the means of production and the products obtained increase their quality and quantity, diversify and reduce their environmental impact. Objective: Analyze the information regarding the use of probiotics in aquaculture and its current development perspective in Mexico. Methods: The available literature on probiotics in aquacultural processes was compiled, with emphasis on the evaluation of positive effects in production, safety, food safety and sustainability. Results: The information analyzed allows establishing that the resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to antibiotics has become a problem in this activity when it is desired to prevent or treat diseases in cultivated species. In aquaculture, probiotics have shown great benefits, such as stimulating the immune response, increasing the survival of larvae, appetite and disease resistance, improving growth, yield and production and significantly reducing the production of polluting waste. The most commonly used probiotics are lactic acid bacteria and their metabolites such as bacteriocins, however, other genera of bacteria are also used, such as Bacillus and Streptomyces, as well as microalgae and yeasts. Conclusions: In Mexico the research and use of probiotics in aquaculture production processes must be reinforced, since they represent a great social, economic and ecological-environmental potential and the sectors involved must pay special attention to this, given the successful results obtained in other regions of the world.