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Shrimp feed is complex mixture of nutrients which help in shrimp growth. Shrimp feed is highly proteinaceous in nature and the materials added are either from plant source or from animal source. Since shrimps are premitive organisms which do not have well developed digestive system, it is difficult for them to digest the feed. The digestive cycle of shrimps are only 20 min and in that 20 min the feed has to be digested and the nutrients should be absorbed which will help the shrimp in digestion, survival and beat external factors which affects the ecology.

Shrimp digestive systems main organ of digestion is hepatopancreas. The functions of hepatopancreas are synthesizes and secrets digestive enzymes for food digestion & absorbs digested material. Hepatopancreas transports the stored nutrients to the muscle, gonads and other tissues during the growth and reproductive stages. Hepatopancreas helps in the metabolism of lipids and carbohydrates.Hepatopancreas is the storehouse of large amounts of energy (lipids) for supplying energy during molting, starvation or reproduction. Hepatopancreas is an important site for the synthesis of vitellogenin and sex steroid hormones for some biosynthetic steps in these pathways.  Hepatopancreas plays important roles during growth and reproduction process in shrimp. Hepatopancreas  act as a site for reserves of mineral and organic products.

Pathogenic Vibrios entering shirmps through oral route target hepatopancreas and restrict the vital body functions, by which the growth of shrimps get affected and leading to monetary losses. By providing potent beneficial microbes and the damaged or infected hepatopancreas can be restored.

Vitamins are necessary for the assimilation and growth of shrimps. Vitamin deficiency leads to poor appetite, slow growth and poorer feed conversion. Vitamin C is a multidimensional  which can reduce stress, improve non specific immune system of host, takes part in collagen synthesis.

Vitamin B1 aids growth, digestion, fertility, nervous system, carbohydrate metabolism and oxidation of glucose. Vitamin B6 vision, enzyme functioning ,energy metabolism, respiration of poorly vascularised tissues, metabolism of carbohydrates, fats and proteins.

When the hepatopancreas is infected / damaged the essential digestive enzymes are not available for carrying out digestion of feed. Uni Max is unique combination of Probiotics, vitamins and enzymes which help in the digestion and rejuvenation of damaged hepatopancreas, increase in average body weight and increasing the Feed conversion ratio.

Aquaculture is an industrial process of raising aquatic organisms upto final commercial production within properly partitioned aquatic areas. Aquaculture is a promising source of food in the future, with incidences of high antibiotics residues and hormonal residues; the live stock protein source may not be suitable for consumption whereas the aquatic protein source is highly rich in Poly unsaturated fatty acids and protein present are highly nutricious when compared to other animal food sources.

Problems & diseases arise in aquaculture due to the bad management of water quality and poor management of the pond environment which can be rectified by following Best Management Practices. Best Management Practices includes maintaining the water parameters like pH, alkalinity, noxious gases, DO and plankton density, feed management and biosecurity measures. Water quality can be maintained by application of good probiotics, one of the good probiotics is Uni Ecosense.

Uni Ecosense is a unique blend of proprietary strains of Bacillus species which are capable of maintaining the water quality parameters and can control pathogenic Vibrios. Uni Ecosense strains are micro aerophillic which can perform in low DO. Uni Ecosense carries out enzyme aided decomposition of organic load thereby deodorization of shrimps. Uni Ecosense performs dual function of degradation & regulation of organic carbon in pond for increase in number of beneficial planktons and reduction of pathogenic phytoplanktons.

Uni Ecosense strains are capable of eliminating the pathogens present in the environment by producing antibacterial substances. Uni Ecosense stabilizes physiochemical parameters of pond water by synthesis of osmolytes which creates a conducive environment. Uni Ecosense performs the chemo-organotrophic oxidation of organic compounds thereby reduction of black soil & initiates the Bio-conversion of anaerobic habitat to aerobic through competitive mechanism.
Uni Ecosense strains are capable of performing in wide range of salinity and pH which makes the product to perform in high salinities.

Salinities higher than 35 PPT have risks associated with feed conversion, high amounts of pathogenic Vibrio’s and harmful phytoplankton which hinders the growth of cultured species. To cater the problems associated with high salinity the probiotics used for treatment should be tolerant to grow in high salinities not all probiotics are salt tolerant or halophillic but strains present in Uni Ecosense are salt tolerant and can proliferate and perform enzymatic activities in high salinities also.

The term “probiotic” was first introduced by Parker in 1974 and the original definition was “organisms and substances which contribute to intestinal microbial balance.” The definition of probiotic was redefined as “live microorganisms which, when administrated in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host”. Most probiotics are supplied as live supplements in feed to benefit the host by inhibiting pathogenic microbes, improving immune response, improving survival and growth rates, enhancing digestion and increasing feed utilization, promoting antimutagenic and anticarcinogenic activity, and improving water quality in culture systems.

Probiotics can bind to colonic cell lines and to mucin, which is thought to aid colonization of the animal gut system. The microflora of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of aquatic animals can be modified by ingestion of other microorganisms. However, the dominant bacteria in fish / shrimp intestine are quite different from those observed in mammals. The composition of microbial communities is greatly influenced by husbandry practices and environmental conditions, e.g. culture water and abiotic or biotic factors, which stimulate the proliferation of selected bacterial species. Therefore, addition of beneficial bacteria to culture water or via feed supplementation during initial egg fertilization or pre-larval stages could have a distinct advantage through the mechanism of competitive exclusion for attachment sites on egg surfaces or in the GIT  Competitive exclusion by potential probiotic bacteria can be evaluated by in vitro antagonistic screening against multiple strains of pathogenic bacteria.

Bacterial antagonism is a common phenomenon in nature. Probiotics may prevent opportunistic pathogens from colonizing the surface of eggs or the GIT by producing antimicrobial compounds or by outcompeting them for nutrients or mucosal space . Certain pathogens produce proteolytic enzymes that can dissolve and digest the bacteria that approaches them, the most remarkable being Streptococcus sp and Bacillus pyocyaneus.

Lactic acid bacteria, notably Lactobacillus sp., Bifidobacterium sp. and Streptococcus sp. are effective against diseases caused by Vibrio sp. (Gatesoupe,1994; Olsson et al., 1998). Bacillus subtilis BT23 has inhibitory effects against vibriosis in tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon (Vaseeharan and Ramasamy 2003).

Nutrient and Enzymatic Contributions to Digestion

Some fish gut microbiota may participate directly in the digestion processes of fish. Enzyme-producing microbiota such as Bacillus some unidentified anaerobes and yeasts are potential contributors.      The metabolic and physiological roles of fish gut microbiota have been the subject of several studies. These microbiota are able to stimulate gut epithelial differentiation and proliferation, gut motility, protein uptake, nutrient metabolism, and innate immunity.

Immune Response Enhancement

The immune response of fish can be up-regulated through supplementation of probiotics, either in the form of monospecies or multispecies mixtures. Phagocytic, lysozyme, complement, respiratory burst activity and the expression of various cytokines in fish can be stimulated by different probiotics. Phagocytic activity of leucocytes increased after oral administration of Clostridium butyricum bacteria to rainbow trout, which subsequently enhanced the resistance of fish to vibriosis. Similarly, administration of a mixture of bacterial strains (Bacillus and Vibrio sp.) positively influenced the protective effect of white shrimp against the pathogens V. harveyi and white spot syndrome virus (WSSV). Administration of a lactic acid bacterium Lactobacillus rhamnosus (strain ATCC 53103) stimulates respiratory burst activity in rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. Some bacteriocin-like inhibitory substances (BLIS) such as antimicrobial peptides, proteins, or protein complexes excreted/synthesized by probiotics are also effective to control several fish diesease, including V. parahaemolyticus, Flavobacterium sp. and Aeromonas hydrophila.