Effect of polyculture of shrimp with fish on luminous bacterial growth in grow-out pond water and sediment

Objective:To study the distribution of marine luminous bacteria in shrimp culture systems of West Bengal and the effect of polyculture of shrimp with fish to reduce luminous bacteria.Methods:Luminous bacterial counts were enumerated by spread plating on seawater complex agar from shrimp grow-out pond water and pond sediment samples of West Bengal,India.Results:About 31.16%and 51.44%of pond sediment and pond water samples respectively had detectable levels of luminous bacteria.It was noticed that in normal ponds a shift happened in bacterial profile of water from the day of flooding up to 60 d,with the dominance of luminous bacteria among vibrios,reaching counts 10^(4) cells/mL or more.While in diseased ponds,luminous bacterial abundance within the ponds was noticed in the first 6 weeks of culture.Marked reduction in luminous bacterial counts of water and sediment was observed through out the culture period in polyculture ponds compared to monoculture ponds.There was no incidence of white spot syndrome viral disease and luminous vibriosis in both controlled and experimental ponds.Conclusions:The results suggest vigilant monitoring of ponds for luminous bacteria abundance and polyculture of shrimp with fish in ecofriendly sustainable aquaculture can reduce the impact of shrimp disease outbreak.