Article
Details
Citation
Tawfik MM, Lorgen-Ritchie M, Król E, McMillan S, Norambuena F, Bolnick DI, Douglas A, Tocher DR, Betancor MB & Martin SAM (2024) Modulation of gut microbiota composition and predicted metabolic capacity after nutritional programming with a plant-rich diet in Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar): insights across developmental stages. Animal Microbiome, 6, Art. No.: 38. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42523-024-00321-8
Abstract
To promote sustainable aquaculture, the formulation of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) feeds has changed in recent decades, focusing on replacing standard marine-based ingredients with plant-based alternatives, increasingly demonstrating successful outcomes in terms of fish performance. However, little is known about how these
plant-based diets may impact the gut microbiota at first feeding and onwards. Nutritional programming (NP) is one strategy applied for exposing fish to a plant-based (V) diet at an early stage in life to promote full utilisation of plant-based ingredients and prevent potential adverse impacts of exposure to a plant-rich diet later in life.
We investigated the impact of NP on gut microbiota by introducing fish to plant ingredients (V fish) during first feeding for a brief period of two weeks (stimulus phase) and compared those to fish fed a marine-based diet (M fish). Results demonstrated that V fish not only maintained growth performance at 16 (intermediate phase) and 22
(challenge phase) weeks post first feeding (wpff ) when compared to M fish but also modulated gut microbiota. PERMANOVA general effects revealed gut microbiota dissimilarity by fish group (V vs. M fish) and phases (stimulus vs. intermediate vs. challenge). However, no interaction effect of both groups and phases was demonstrated,
suggesting a sustained impact of V diet (nutritional history) on fish across time points/phases. Moreover, the V diet exerted a significant cumulative modulatory effect on the Atlantic salmon gut microbiota at 16 wpff that was not demonstrated at two wpff, although both fish groups were fed the M diet at 16 wpff. The nutritional history/dietary regime is the main NP influencing factor, whereas environmental and host factors significantly impacted microbiota composition in M fish. Microbial metabolic reactions of amino acid metabolism were higher in M fish when compared to V fish at two wpff suggesting microbiota played a role in digesting the essential amino acids of M feed. The excessive mucin O-degradation revealed in V fish at two wpff was mitigated in later life stages after NP, suggesting physiological adaptability and tolerance to V diet. Future studies are required to explore more fully how the microbiota functionally contributes to the NP.
Keywords
Nutritional programming; Intestinal microbiota; Fishmeal; Metabolic programming; Plant-based diet; Vegetable-based diet; Atlantic salmon; First feeding; Microbio; Nutritional history
Journal
Animal Microbiome: Volume 6
Status | Published |
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Funders | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
Publication date | 01/07/2024 |
Publication date online | 01/07/2024 |
Date accepted by journal | 06/05/2024 |
URL | http://hdl.handle.net/1893/36126 |
Publisher | Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
ISSN | 2524-4671 |
eISSN | 2524-4671 |
People (2)
Associate Professor, Institute of Aquaculture
Post Doctoral Research Fellow, Institute of Aquaculture