Autochthonous Yeasts As Growth Factor in Rhamdia Quelen: Preliminary Approaches

Rhamdia quelen is an autochthonous fish used for aquaculture in the Northeast of Argentina.Antibiotics as growing factors in fish production had been criticized in the last years and the use of microorganisms emerged as a putative replacement. The aim of this study was to isolate autochthonous yeasts from R. quelen and to evaluate the effect of the administrationover biometrical parameters of larvae under intensive culture system. Fungi were isolatedfrom the digestive tract of wild specimens, phenotypically identified and evaluated on theirability to exert beneficial properties. One selected fungal isolate was administered, four timesa day, dead or alive at 1 or 2% together with balanced feed to R. quelen larvae for 15 days. aftertreatment larvae were counted and weighted in order to obtain the values of survival, mean weight and total biomass. Only four Candida tropicalis isolates were obtained. None of them expressed beneficial properties. One fungal isolate was randomly selected for in vivo assays. Results indicated that only dead yeast at 1% induced a significant increment of biomass when compared with the control group (p<0.05). Survival rate was boosted significantly (p<0.05) with dead yeast and not significantly (p>0.05) with the fungal isolate. None of the treatments induced significant increments in mean weight (p<0.05). These results allowed us to propose the treatment with dead yeast at 1% as a growing factor for R. quelen, considering this microorganism as an effective prebiotic in the aquaculture of this specie.