Executive Summary: Challenge to be Addressed: Bacterial diseases have emerged as a serious problem and represent the most significant challenge facing the shrimp industry. Although various options have been developed to replace antimicrobials, such as vaccines, plant extracts, among others, these do not meet all the requirements for safety, human health, rapid elimination, biodegradability without affecting the environment, improved resistance to diseases and regulatory simplification.
General Objective: Study biopolymer fibers, natural and safe supplements, determining their efficacy as immunostimulants, in order to improve the resistance of P. vannamei shrimp to acute hepatopancreatic necrosis (AHPND).
Specific objectives
- Objective 1: Extract and characterize natural fibers from plants available in Ecuadorian markets (5 months). We will identify fibers with unique structural properties to assess their immune-stimulating activity. Unlike conventional plant fibers, we will investigate the plant fibers available in the Ecuadorian markets. We will use conventional extraction (hydrolysis and bleaching) implemented at Yachay Tech and characterize the fibers through our collaboration with Dr. Alexis Debut at ESPE using established methods (TGA, FTIR and SEM). Next, we will study the stability of the fibers in water, such as degradability and aggregation. We will identify fibers with unique structural properties to assess their immune-stimulating activity in Objective 2.
- Objective 2: Test the immunostimulating capacity of natural fibers (7 months): We will investigate the immune stimulation activity both in vitro and in vivo. We will collaborate with Dr. Jenny Antonia Rodríguez León at CENAIM to use established assays (detection of phenol oxidase activity, estimation of respiratory burst, immunostaining, shrimp hemocyte count, pathogen challenge, growth rate, etc.). The trials will be carefully designed with the respective replicates and controls. We will identify fibers with unique proinflammatory activity to prevent resistance to AHPND disease in shrimp.
Participating Institutions:
YACHAY TECH, ESPE, ESPOL.
Participants:
Project manager Frank Alexis.
- Frank Alexis
- Alexis debut
- Andrea Ochoa
- Jenny Leon
- Bolivar Chalen
- Mary Ramirez
Awarded budget: $37050
Project status: Signing of agreements.
