Seaweeds are known to contain nutrients that are essential for human nutrition, making them edible and potential resources to mine for bioactive substances. The present study was aimed to investigate the prebiotic potentials of the seaweed, as supplement in diets for Asia sea bass fingerlings. Experimental dietary formulations were supplemented with four graded levels of powdered seaweed (0.0, 1.5, 3.0 and 4.5 %) and fed to sea bass fingerlings (mean initial weight 2.2 g) for 55 days. Fish were evaluated for feed efficiency, growth performance and mortality. The results showed that survival, feed consumption and efficiency, and growth performance were better in fish fed the 1.5 and 3.0 % seaweed supplemented feed compared to the control. Carcass protein and Fe contents, red blood cell (RBC) and white blood cell (WBC) counts were also better in the fish fed the sargassum supplemented diets, which were significantly ( < 0.05) higher in the 1.5 and 3.0 % treatments than in the control. Proliferation of pure colonies of descendant Gram positive, none-spore forming, cocci and rod-shaped, catalase and oxidase negative bacteria was observed in the intestines of fish reared with the sargassum supplemented feed. These bacteria were identified as subspecies paracasei, which were earlier identified to exhibit probiotic characteristics. Taken together, these results demonstrated the prebiotic potentials of sargassum, for Asian sea bass fingerling when supplemented in their diets at concentrations of between 15 and 30 g/kg. The commercial cultivation of sargassum seaweed needs to be encouraged.

中文翻译：

---

褐海藻马尾藻作为膳食补充剂在亚洲鲈鱼鱼种中表现出益生元潜力


众所周知，海藻含有人类营养所必需的营养物质，使其可食用并成为开采生物活性物质的潜在资源。本研究旨在调查海藻作为亚洲鲈鱼鱼种日粮补充剂的益生元潜力。实验饲料配方中添加了四个等级的海藻粉（0.0、1.5、3.0 和 4.5%），并喂给鲈鱼鱼种（平均初始重量 2.2 克）55 天。对鱼的饲料效率、生长性能和死亡率进行了评估。结果表明，与对照组相比，饲喂添加 1.5% 和 3.0% 海藻的饲料的鱼的存活率、饲料消耗和效率以及生长性能均更好。饲喂添加马尾藻的饲料的鱼的胴体蛋白质和铁含量、红细胞 (RBC) 和白细胞 (WBC) 计数也更好，其中 1.5% 和 3.0% 处理组显着高于 (<0.05)。控制。在用马尾藻添加饲料饲养的鱼的肠道中观察到革兰氏阳性、不形成芽孢、球菌和杆状、过氧化氢酶和氧化酶阴性细菌的后代纯菌落的增殖。这些细菌被鉴定为副干酪亚种，早期被鉴定为具有益生菌特征。总而言之，这些结果证明了在亚洲鲈鱼鱼种的饮食中添加马尾藻浓度为 15 至 30 克/千克时，其益生元潜力。需要鼓励马尾藻的商业化种植。