Infections caused by antibiotic resistant luminescent vibrios can cause considerable losses in aquaculture. In this study, different short-chain fatty acids were investigated as possible alternative biocontrol agents. The addition of 100 mM formic, acetic, propionic, butyric or valeric acid to the growth medium of a pathogenic Vibrio campbellii strain completely inhibited its growth at pH 6. At 10 mM, the growth of the pathogen was delayed, whereas at 1 mM, no effect could be observed. The growth-inhibitory effect was clearly pH-dependent and decreased with increasing pH. An in vivo challenge test with gnotobiotic Artemia franciscana nauplii revealed that all five short-chain fatty acids protected the shrimp from the pathogenic V. campbellii strain. The addition of 20 mM of the short-chain fatty acids to the culture water resulted in a significantly increased survival of infected nauplii, with no difference between the different fatty acids. In conclusion, our data indicate that short-chain fatty acids might be useful as alternative biocontrol agents to treat luminescent vibriosis.
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