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Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) production will likely increase to meet the growing demand for sustainable protein and lipids. A by-product is “frass,” which is a mixture of mostly larval excrement but also chitin. This mineral-richby-product could be a valuable aquaponic supplement, but the information is limited. The aim of this study was twofold to determine if BSFL frass additions could enhance the production, mineral composition, and chlorophyll content of collard greens (Brassica oleracea var. viridis) after 10 weeks as well as the influence of culturing collard greens with or without media. Each aquaponic system contained 20 channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus; initial mean weight of 128 g) that were fed twice daily to apparent satiation. Results showed that dissolved nitrogen, pH, and dissolved oxygen were unaffected ( p > 0.05 ) by BSFL frass additions. There was a significant media and BSFL frass effect ( p < 0.05 ) on total weight, individual weight, and total height of collard greens where the media/frass treatment led to a ninefold increase in weight compared to the no media/no frass treatment. Moreover, both media and BSFL frass significantly increased ( p < 0.05 ) the total chlorophyll content while extensive chlorosis was observed in the no media/no frass group. Manganese in collard greens was significantly increased ( p < 0.05 ) by BSFL frass. The best combination for collard green growth and preventing any chlorosis was the media/frass treatment, which may be due to an increase in various nutrients that were more accessible by biomineralization in the media.

Strawberries were aquaponically cultured with or without boron supplementations and with or without media (2 × 2 factorial design) for over two months. There was a total of six identical aquaponic units with each containing 30 catfish juveniles (initial weight = 2.1 g) as well as two plant culture units consisting of a floating raft (without media) or expanded lava rock (with media). Boron (B), in the form of Borax, was weekly added at 0.01 mg/L. Water quality and fish growth were unaffected by B additions. Strawberry number and total weight were unaffected by B or media, but individual strawberries were significantly heavier when grown in media. Sodium, iron and moisture content were significantly higher in strawberries grown in media but both glucose and fructose were significantly higher in strawberries grown without media. Supplementations of B significantly increased and decreased the B and zinc content of strawberries, respectively, as well as caused significantly shorter roots. B supplementations appeared to provide no benefit and may have actually caused some B toxicity to the strawberries. Growing strawberries with or without media in an aquaponic system provided different advantages but research should be performed to investigate other nutrients to potentially enhance production and quality.

Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) is a sustainable protein and lipid source in the diets of terrestrial and aquatic animals. This is largely due to their ability to thrive on various waste products, but the food type greatly influences their productivity and nutritional value. In this study, BSFL (initial mean weight = 0.11 g) were fed sweet potato, spent coffee or dough for two weeks and the survival, growth, feed efficiency, and biochemical composition were assessed. The best bioconversion/material reduction was from dough. The dough also produced significantly larger/heavier BSF, but a significantly lower percentage of pre-pupae. Crude protein was significantly higher in BSFL fed spent coffee than either dough or sweet potato. Among the essential amino acids, leucine and valine in BSFL were significantly higher in the spent coffee or sweet potato compared to those fed dough. BSFL fed sweet potato had the highest percentage of lauric acid (C12), while both sweet potato and spent coffee elevated eicosapentaenoic acid (20:5n-3), which is beneficial to terrestrial and aquatic animals. Although each substrate was high in carbohydrates, these produced BSFL with a high-quality protein content comparable or even superior than some plant-based proteins. Overall, sweet potato produced BSFL with the best nutritional profile while supporting their growth.

Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) is rapidly becoming a new sustainable ingredient. Currently, there is no information on purging BSFL and consequently their nutritional profile. In the first part of this study, the BSFL urea/ammonia content along with proximate, fatty acid and amino acids were examined when food was withdrawn at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 24 h. After 3 h, urea content linearly increased until 24 h, while ammonia also increased linearly, but then decreased by 24 h. Total amino acids and total fatty acids gradually decreased and increased over time, respectively. At 3 and 6 h, butyric and acetic acid significantly decreased, respectively. In a follow-up separate study, providing coconut fibers mitigated the ammonia/urea increases within 48 h. Results indicate that the nutritional profile of BSFL reduces over time and thus should be processed immediately. Further research should explore the possibility of nutrient loading prior to harvest and more effective ways for purging BSFL.

Aim: Despite their well-known strategy of brooding in male pouches, survival of early juveniles of seahorses still represents a significant bottleneck to its population survival. This study aimed to address the feeding and digestive efficiency of early Hippocampus kuda in order to improve their survival. Methodology: The external and gut morphology of H. kuda juveniles in the immediate period after being released from the brood pouch (0–9 day-afterbirth) were examined and described through histological and microscopic. Results: Unlike premature seahorses with a round-shaped yolk sac attached to their semi-transparent body, the normal newborns had no external yolk sac but some yolk residues were observed internally. Although the mouth gape size, mouth area, height and tail length grew bigger and longer in the older juveniles, the intestine length increased isometrically with height. Ingested live food was poorly digested in early juveniles and some Artemia nauplii were found to be still alive in the excreta. Interpretation: Overall, the results indicated that the early feeding of H. kudawas highly inefficient. Depletion of remnant yolk in H. kuda suggested partial lecithotrophy during the first two days. These findings prov ide an important insight for developing nursing methods for this seahorse species.

Aim: In this study, habitat ecology, abundance and diversity indices were combined to characterize spatial distribution and seasonal patterns of larval assemblages at three sites with different levels of disturbance at Matang mangrove ecosystem. Methodology: Three sampling stations were selected, namely S1 - most disturbed, S2 - moderately disturbed? and S3 - least disturbed. Larval fishes were collected using oblique tows of a bongo net (450 μm mesh size) equipped with a flow meter every month for one year from April 2015 to March 2016. A total of 14 families were identified with nine families dominating at S1, eight at S2 and 10 at S3. Results: Gobiidae was the most abundant at 80.68% total abundance, followed by Mullidae (3.26%), Rachycentridae (3.07%), Blenniidae (3.01%), Engraulidae (2.22%) and Ambassidae (1.68%). The highest and lowest Shannon-Wiener diversity index was recorded at S3 (H'=1.04) and S1 (H'=0.35), respectively. Water temperature showed a positive significant correlation with Blenniidae (p < 0.05) and a negative significant correlation with Gobiidae and Syngnathidae (p < 0.05). Similarly, Gobiidae and Syngnathidae were negatively correlated with salinity, TDS, conductivity and pH. However, multiregression analysis indicated a weak overall relationship (4 - 41%) between larval abundance and environmental variables. This suggests that habitat structure of mangroves was more important in determining larval abundance than water quality. Interpretation: This study emphasizes the need to conserve mangrove ecosystems as important nursery grounds for various fish larvae to ensure adequate recruitment and ultimately sustainable fisheries management.

The acute respiratory disease COVID-19, caused by the novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, is a worldwide pandemic affecting millions of people. The methodology that organizations who provide home health and personal home care services are using to respond to this pandemic has not yet been characterized. In this report, we describe our approach to comprehensive outbreak suppression and report an initial case series of COVID-19 positive patients receiving home-based services. We implemented enhanced infection control procedures across our affiliates, and we communicated these protocols to our offices using multi-faceted methods. Using custom built software applications enabling us to track patient and employee cases and exposures, we leveraged current public health recommendations to identify cases and to suppress transmission. In the 100-day period between January 20, 2020 and April 30, 2020, our affiliates provided services to 67 COVID-19 positive patients (

The replacement of fishmeal in aquafeeds is essential to the sustainability of aquaculture. Besides the procurement of alternative protein sources, fish can also be selected for better performance on plant-based alternative diets. Rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is one such species in which the strain ARS-Sel has been selected for higher growth and enhanced utilization when fed soy-based diets. The aim of this study was to compare fish growth and plasma and digesta metabolomes between ARS-Sel and two commercial strains (CS-1 and CS-2), when fed plant-protein (PM) and fishmeal-based (FM) diets, and to correlate them with the onset of enteritis. An NMR-metabolomics approach was taken to assess plasma and digesta metabolite profiles. Diet and strain showed significant effects on fish growth, with the ARS-Sel fish receiving the PM diet reaching the highest final weight at sampling. Multivariate analysis revealed differences between plasma and digesta metabolite profiles of ARS-Sel and CS (CS-1 considered together with CS-2) PM-fed groups in the early stages of enteritis development, which was confirmed by intestinal histology. As reported in previous studies, the ARS-Sel strain performed better than the commercial strains when fed the PM diet. Our findings also suggest that metabolomic profiles of plasma and digesta, samples of which can be obtained through non-lethal methods, offer valuable insight in monitoring the occurrence of enteritis in carnivorous aquaculture species due to plant-based diets.

A 10-day trial was conducted to compare the production and fatty acid composition of black soldier fly (

In this 8-week feeding trial, the effects of nucleotide (N) supplementation (at 0.05%) were compared in diets with conventional soybean meal (CSBM or CSBM + N) versus bioprocessed SBM (BSBM or BSMB + N) on largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, juveniles. A total of five isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated, with the control diet being fishmeal-based. Growth, feeding efficiency, proximate composition, hepatic expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism and growth as well as liver/intestinal histopathology were assessed. Results showed that growth was significantly higher in fish fed the control diet, but there was no significant effect of SBM type or nucleotide supplementation on growth, feeding efficiency, or proximate composition. Hepatic expression of growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor I (IGFI), superoxide dismutase (SOD), fatty acid synthase (FASN) and cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) were unaffected by the diets. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) were significantly downregulated and upregulated, respectively, in the SBM-based treatments compared with the control. The intestinal villi were significantly shorter and wider in fish fed the CSBM diet compared to the other treatments. The villi height and width were similar between the control and those fed the BSMB + N diet. It may be possible that the unaffected growth by nucleotides were due to an insufficient dose and/or undisrupted nucleotide synthesis due to being cultured under good conditions. Meanwhile, the unaffected growth in the SBM treatment could indicate a tolerance of M. salmoides to plant proteins and associated antinutritional factors. Nevertheless, BSBM and/or nucleotides appeared to mitigate some adverse effects of dietary SBM to the intestinal histomorphology in M. salmoides.

Detoxified Jatropha kernel meal (DJKM) was created through heat and solvent extraction and replaced fish meal (FM) at 0% (Control), 50% (J50), or 62.5% (J62.5) in common carp Cyprinus carpio fingerling (initial mean weight ± SD; 22 ± 0.12 g) diets over 16 weeks. Growth performance and feeding efficiencies were similar (P > 0.05) among groups, but nutrient digestibilities and digestive enzyme activities were significantly higher (P

Bacteria are ubiquitous in culture systems and may be beneficial, benign, or pathogenic to the host. It is possible to increase the abundance of beneficial bacteria in the culture water or intestines of fish and shellfish with probiotics, prebiotics or create an environment favorable to probiotics via biofloc technology (BFT). Essentially, probiotics are microorganisms that improve the health of animals. Prebiotics are nonliving ingredients that are indigestible to the host animal but are digestible by probiotics. As such, prebiotics can selectively increase probiotic abundance in the host intestine. Thus, these additives are linked. There is also a link with BFT in which an organic carbon source is added to the water, which selectively favors heterotrophic bacteria that have probiotic characteristics. Thus, the added organic carbon source can act as a prebiotic. The current trends of more intensification and use of plant-based ingredients may increase the risk of disease outbreaks and compromise immunity, respectively. However, some of these issues can be mitigated by probiotics, prebiotics, and BFT, and thus will likely increase in popularity for disease management.

High dietary levels of fat and/or starch can lower the growth and cause extensive liver inflammation that is linked to mortalities in largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides. However, bile acids (BA) may mitigate these adverse effects. In a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial feeding trial, M. salmoides juveniles were fed different combinations of dietary high (HF), low fat (LF), high (HS) or low starch (LS) levels with or without BA supplementations at 1% for 8 weeks. A total of 8 isonitrogenous diets were formulated to include, HF/LS, HF/HS, LF/HS, LF/LS, HF/LS-BA, HF/HS-BA, LF/HS-BA and LF/LS-BA. Survival, growth performance, feeding efficiency, whole-body proximate composition, muscle/liver fatty acid composition, hepatic expression of growth regulator (GH/IGF1 axis), lipid metabolism (fatty acid synthase 'FASN' and cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase 'CYP7A1') and antioxidant capacity (superoxide dismutase 'SOD') genes as well as liver histopathology were assessed. Results showed that among diets without BA, there was no significant effect on growth or feeding efficiency, but when BA was included this led to more variable effects including significantly higher weight gain in the LF/HS-BA group compared to all others fed BA. The HF, HS or their combination led to extensive hepatic inflammation, but BA appeared to partially mitigate this in the LF/HS group (i.e. LF/HS-BA). No abnormal liver histopathology was observed in the LF/LS and LF/LS-BA treatments. Muscle 22:6n-3 was significantly higher in the HF/LS and HF/HS-BA groups compared to those fed the HF/HS or LF/LS diets. Dietary fat had a significant effect on the moisture, crude lipid, and caloric content of M. salmoides. Hepatic expression of IGF-I and CYP7A1 were differentially modulated under different treatments. Overall, these results show that BA can alleviate some liver inflammation caused by high dietary starch; however the LF/LS diets led to a better balance between growth performance and liver health.

Black solider fly larvae (BSFL) and their oils (BSFLO) are receiving increasing attention as sustainable ingredients in fish feeds, but mostly as replacements to marine sources. There were two aims to this study; in exp. 1, soybean meal (SBM)-based diets were formulated to contain BSFL as supplements at 0 (SBM), 8 (SBM + BSFLlow) or 16% (SBM + BSFLhigh) with a control diet being fishmeal-based (FM). In exp. 2, diets included only fish oil (FO), soybean oil (SBO), BSFLO or BSFLO + bile acid (BA), and all lipid sources were added at 16%. Both experiments were run at the same time and fed to rainbow trout (32 g) with each treatment being triplicated. After 10 weeks the fish were sampled for liver and distal intestine histology, expression of genes responsible for inflammation in the intestine and kidneys, and serum peroxidase and lysozyme activities. In exp. 1, supplementations of BSFL effectively prevented SBM-induced intestinal enteritis, down-regulated intestinal prostaglandin and interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF-1), while the SBM + BSFLhigh diet significantly increased serum lysozyme activity. In exp. 2, BSFLO caused no histomorphological change to the liver or intestine, but kidney interluekin-8, tumor necrosis factor and IRF-1 were significantly upregulated along with significantly higher serum peroxidase activity. The inclusion of BA in the BSFLO diets significantly upregulated intestinal prostaglandin gene expression. Overall, BSFL supplementations of 8 or 16% prevented SBM-induced intestinal enteritis based on histological observations, which was supported by a down-regulation in pro-inflammatory genes and enhanced innate immunity. Meanwhile, the use of BSFLO showed some immunological benefits. Therefore, these sustainable resources are recommended in the diets of rainbow trout, especially when using elevated levels of plant-based proteins.

Iron overload is a significant water quality issue in many parts of the world. Therefore, we evaluated the potential toxic effects of waterborne elevated iron on largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), a highly valued sport and aquaculture fish species. First, a 96 h-LC50 toxicity assay was performed to understand the tolerance limit of this species to iron; and was determined to be 22.07 mg/L (as Fe3+). Thereafter, to get a better insight on the fish survival during long-term exposure to high environmental iron (HEI) (5.52 mg/L, 25% of the determined 96 h-LC50 value), a suite of physio-biochemical, nitrogenous metabolic and ion-regulatory compensatory responses were examined at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Results showed that oxygen consumption dropped significantly at 21 and 28 days of HEI exposure. Ammonia excretion rate (Jamm) was significantly inhibited from day 14 and remained suppressed until the last exposure period. The transcript concentration of Rhesus glycoproteins Rhcg2 declined; likely diminishing ammonia efflux out of gills. These changes were also reflected by a parallel increment in plasma ammonia levels. Under HEI exposure, ion-balance was negatively affected, manifested by reduced plasma [Na+] and parallel inhibition in branchial Na+/K+-ATPase activity. Muscle water content was elevated in HEI-exposed fish, signifying an osmo-regulatory compromise. HEI exposure also increased iron burden in plasma and gills. The iron accumulation pattern in gills was significantly correlated with a suppression of Jamm, branchial Rhcg2 expression and Na+/K+-ATPase activity. There was also a decline in the glycogen, protein and lipid reserves in the hepatic tissue from 14 days, 28 days and 21 days, respectively. Overall, we conclude that sub-lethal chronic iron exposure can impair normal physio-biochemical and ion-regulatory functions in largemouth bass. Moreover, this data set can be applied in assessing the environmental risk posed by a waterborne iron overload on aquatic life.

To address the threat posed by COVID-19 in long term care facilities, our pharmacy implemented an outbreak suppression strategy, and tracked prescriptions of anti-infectives and hydroxychloroquine sulfate in over 2,000 LTC facilities.

Residents of congregate care settings have been severely impacted by the current Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. In this report, we describe the methods our home-based primary care practice has developed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in assisted living facilities (ALFs) and we present an initial evaluation of this innovation. Shortly after the first COVID-19 case was reported in the United States, our organization assembled an outbreak committee, designed to support the 1794 ALF residents and the 101 communities in which they reside. The committee led the development and deployment of a comprehensive COVID-19 prevention and suppression strategy. The average age of the cohort was 83 ± 11 years, and 74% were female. Seven individuals (0.4% of census) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. The positive individuals were located in 3 ALFs, representing 3% of our total number of ALFs. There has been 1 death. Home-based primary care-led outbreak mitigation may be an enabler to suppress COVID-19 in ALFs.

28 pages, 6 figures, The vast majority of crustaceans are aquatic, living in either marine or freshwater environments. Marine crustaceans -such as copepods, in particular- are ubiquitous in the oceans and perhaps the most numerous metazoans on Earth. Because crustaceans occur in all marine habitats, their larvae are exposed to higly diverse and sometimes variable environmental conditions, including extreme situations in which various environmental factors exert significant effects on larval growth and development. This chapter first describes the effects of food availability on crustacean larvae. Food paucity is a commonly occurring scenario in the wild, which can directly affect larval growth and development and, in severe cases, results in mortality. In the subsequent sections, we cover the effects of temperature and salinity—the two most prominent physical parameters in the aquatic environments—on growth and development of crustacean larvae. We then discuss the influence of other important physicochemical factors in aquatic environments on larval growth and devel-opment, including dissolved oxygen, light, ocean acidification, and pollutants. Finally, the last two sections of this chapter discuss synergistic effects of different environmental factors and suggest future research directions in thisfield

Aquaculture is increasingly being intensified, and the resulting higher stocking densities and feed inputs in closed systems can consequently lead to water-quality fluctuations and/or deteriorations. Some of the most relevant water-quality parameters in closed aquaculture systems include dissolved oxygen/redox potential, pH, salinity, temperature, and nitrogenous waste. These parameters should not deviate to extreme levels in order to minimize noninfectious diseases and subsequently ensure higher productivity in aquatic animals. Some husbandry strategies and novel systems to prevent or ameliorate deviations in these parameters will be discussed along with physiological responses in aquatic animals due to water-quality-induced noninfectious diseases. A final section will discuss the implications to noxious algae as a consequence of water-quality deteriorations as well as feed spoilage/contamination along with mitigating strategies to ensure a better product for human consumers.

Plant-based proteins are increasingly being used in aquafeeds, but one of the limitations is taurine deficiency that can be especially detrimental for carnivorous fish. In this study, taurine supplementation in high plant protein diets (low fish meal, 15%) was investigated on the growth performance and fillet organoleptic characteristics of European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax), juveniles (78 ± 0.4 g). Five diets were formulated to contain 0 (C−), 5 (T5), 10 (T10) or 20 (T20) added taurine (g/kg), while a control diet (C+) included two-fold higher amount of fishmeal (30%) with no taurine supplementation. Seabass fed the T20 or C+ diet showed similar growth, which was significantly higher compared to those in the C-treatment. Histological examination of the muscle, liver and intestine were similar among treatments. No effect on spoilage bacterial growth or production of total volatile basic nitrogen was observed. Taurine supplementation significantly reduced fillet drip loss, while the fillets of European seabass fed the T10 and T20 diets showed significant higher and lower hardness and adhesiveness values, respectively. Moreover, fillet chewiness was also found to be significantly higher in fish fed the T20 diet compared to C+ and C− diets. Overall, it seems that high dietary taurine supplementation acted as a growth promoter and concurrently improved significantly the postharvest quality characteristics of seabass, which may be attributed to its role in maintaining cell membrane integrity and permeability.