Incidence of systemic granulomatosis is modulated by the feeding sequence and type of enrichment in meagre (Argyrosomus regius) larvae

Systemic granulomatosis is the most frequent disease in juvenile and adult meagre, but studies regarding the first appearance of granulomas in larvae do not exist. In order to evaluate this, meagre larvae were fed four different feeding regimes as follows: RS and RO (rotifer enriched with Easy DHA Selco or Ori-Green from 3-30 dph, respectively), RAS and RAO (rotifer enriched with Easy DHA Selco or Ori-Green from 3-21 dph and Artemia enriched with Easy DHA Selco or Ori-Green from 12-30 dph, respectively). All treatments were also fed with commercial microdiet from 20-30 dph. At 30 dph weight, length, specific growth rate and survival was significantly higher in Artemia-fed larvae, regardless of the enrichment. Microscopic first appearance of granulomas was observed in 20 dph larvae fed RS and RO. At 30 dph granulomas and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) values were significantly higher in RS and RO-fed larvae than in RAS and RAO-fed larvae. The results showed that granulomas first appeared in meagre larvae at 20 dph when fed rotifers only. Conversely, a reduced appearance of granulomas and lipid peroxidation occurs when Artemia is included in the feeding sequence reinforcing the hypothesis of a nutritional origin of the systemic granulomatosis.