Probiotics in aquaculture: Challenges and outlook

With increasing demand for environment friendly aquaculture, the use of probiotics in aquaculture is now widely accepted. However, there is clearly a need in increasing our knowledge of intestinal microbiology and of effective preparation and safety evaluation of probiotics. This review provides a summary of the status and challenges of probiotic application in aquaculture. Our review is from the perspective of digestive tract, thereby taking into account the experiences in introducing the preparation, use and safety evaluation of probiotics in aquaculture. A better understanding of rationale, preparation and safety of probiotics in aquaculture may be of interest for commercial aquaculture. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.