Effects of biological water purification grid on microbial community of culture environment and intestine of the shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

Biological water purification grid (BWPG), a type of biofilm, could increase aquaculture production by improving the growth of shrimp and culture environment. In this study, the microbial community composition and diversity of water, sediment and shrimp intestine were analysed using the Illumina Miseq high-throughput sequencing technique. Installation of BWPG did not only increase the dissolved oxygen, pH and decreased inorganic nutrients, but also increased shrimp body length by 5.39% and weight by 16.35%. Furthermore, it was found that the microbial community diversity of water and shrimp intestine in test pond with BWPG was higher than that of control pond without BWPG. Cyanobacteria, Bacillus and Lactococcus were enriched in the test pond with BWPG. However, Rhodobacter was mainly identified in the test pond. It thus seems to suggest that the application of BWPG in shrimp culture pond enhanced the microbial species richness, types of species and proportion of beneficial bacteria in culture environment as well as shrimp intestine. The results from this study will therefore provide some scientific basis for the improvement and development of shrimp aquaculture.