PubMed · 2026-06-26
Researchers reviewed biological alternatives to antibiotics in fish farming, finding that probiotics, prebiotics, and medicinal plant extracts can improve fish immunity and gut health — but real-world results are inconsistent due to temperature swings, system type, and formulation instability.
Thermal degradation during industrial feed pellet extrusion is identified as a primary cause of batch-to-batch inconsistency, making microencapsulation or post-coating of additives practically mandatory.
The farming system type (recirculating tanks vs. open ponds vs. biofloc systems) strictly governs how well functional additives perform, with open ponds showing the most unpredictable outcomes due to abiotic fluctuations.
Standard laboratory (in vitro) assays consistently fail to predict real-world colonization success because they cannot replicate multifactorial field stressors like fluctuating temperature and pH.