Skin and gut project could help crack lice problem
A project to explore the relationship between mucosal health, diet and microbiota in salmon has been launched by Lallemand Animal Nutrition, Plymouth University and La Universidad de Chile.
Economic losses associated with sea lice cost the Chilean aquaculture industry over €113 million per year. The two-year project – which is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSCRC) and the Chilean government (CONICYT) – will bring together experts across biotechnology, microbiology, immunology and pathology to study the effect lice have upon the salmon’s skin and gut defences, the way lice hamper physiological processes and their ability to withstand other infections.
The researchers will then look at the efficacy of dietary supplements on the fish’s immune system, the microbes on the skin and salmon’s ability to develop resistance to sea lice infestation — as well as investigating the impact of dietary supplements upon the lice. These findings will then be validated on a commercial farming scale to help inform suitable future treatment strategies for aquaculture to improve the salmon’s resistance to infestation.
Dr Mathieu Castex, R&D Director for Lallemand Animal Nutrition, commented: “Intestinal health and digestive microbiota management are our main drivers for the last 20 years. When it comes to aquaculture, it appeared natural to look beyond the intestine and investigate further the link with other mucosal surfaces (skin and gills in particular). This project is a great opportunity to progress in this field, it will uncover some triggering factors and biomarkers (specifically microbial and molecular biomarkers) linked to both skin and intestinal mucosal changes.
“Finally, efforts will be dedicated to establish the link with subsequent phenotypic characteristics associated to lice infestation. This basic work is absolutely necessary to develop an efficient nutritional strategy to mitigate the impact of sea lice. This project combines fundamental and applied objectives, which are what we like at Lallemand, and this matches with our development strategy: ‘science lead, field supported’”.
Dr Jaime Romero, from La Universidad de Chile, adds: “Our main goal is to explore the relationship between mucosal health, diet and microbiota in salmon, with knowledge then being transferred to other aquaculture species in the North African/Middle Eastern aquaculture sectors, including sea breams, European/Asian sea basses, mullets and groupers.”
For more details, visit the project website: https://salmonlousemicrobiome.org/
