About this Research Topic

Background

Aquaculture has recently been developed to support human beings with nutritious and healthful protein sources. Fish farming faces several challenges that can decrease production rates and economic returns. The emergence of infectious fish pathogens in culture facilities is from the devastating challenges that cause high mortalities of the infected fish and shrimp and induce critical economic loss. From another side, using antibiotics to control and prevent bacterial diseases in aquaculture has been prohibited and banned in several countries throughout the globe because of their unfavorable effects on human consumers, the incidence of resistant strains, and potential environmental risks. Accordingly, finding suitable, economical, environmentally safe, and effective substitutes is vital to limit antibiotic usage in aquaculture and also enhance the health status and overall performances of cultured fish and shrimp. Phytochemicals are a large group of plant-derived bioactive functional compounds that are commonly found in fruits, vegetables, beans, and cereals. They include a vast number of molecules such as alkaloids, flavonoids, isoflavonoids, polyphenols, pigments, phenolics, glucosinolates, terpenoids, anthocyanins, steroids, and carotenoids. These beneficial molecules can be used in aquafeed as feed supplements to improve growth, boost immunity, reduce stress (as anti-stress agents), potentiate the antioxidant state, and enhance the disease resistance of fish and shrimp; therefore, they can be considered as biological control (biocontrol) methods for fish and shrimp diseases.

Nutrition researchers estimate that more than 4,000 phytochemicals have been identified, but only about 150 have been studied in depth. More research is still needed to clarify which phytochemicals may benefit the sector of Aquaculture Nutrition. Hence, with this research topic, we aim to throw light on the functionality and potential applications of phytochemicals on the overall performances of finfish and shrimp species. This topic is of crucial importance not only to optimize the health status of fish and shrimp but also to maintain sustainable aquaculture. To get a comprehensive overview of this research topic, highly advanced research, including original research, short communications, mini-reviews, and review articles on the following fields, are particularly welcomed. Potential themes include, but are not limited to: -

1. Application of phytochemicals in fish and shrimp in relation to their roles as growth promotors, immunostimulants, and antioxidants.

2. Effects of dietary supplementation with phytochemicals on the gut microbiome, intestinal histomorphology, and overall gut health.

2. Elucidation of the beneficial roles of phytochemicals to reduce stress effects in fish and shrimp (antistress activities).

4. Understanding the effects of phytochemicals in enhancing the disease resistance against challenging pathogens (Biocontrol roles).

Keywords: Phytochemicals, Innate Immunity; Non-specific Immunity, Growth performance, Hepato-renal functions, Gene expression, Antioxidant status, Disease resistance, Intestinal health, Microbiome; Shellfish species, Finfish species

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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