The global salmon farming business has been struggling since it was founded in the 1970s to control the severe economic, animal welfare, and ecological effects of sea lice infestation, which has kept salmon farming from reaching its full potential. Currently, the year has been put up as estimates for the economic impact of between USD 400 and USD 600 million (EUR 366 million to EUR 549 million). However, solving the problem can harm marine ecosystems, and lice can develop resistance to treatments.
Salmon farms constantly struggle against the onslaught of sea lice (Lepeophtheirus salmonis, Caligus rogercresseyi, etc), it is also a real challenge for parasitologists to solve this huge problem that has continued to build up over the years since the start of salmon aquaculture. While the ability to deal with sea lice outbreaks is often the most pressing concern of those involved in salmon production, there is an acknowledgment that the use of long-term integrated strategies for managing them is an important consideration to the industry’s sustainability.

Sea lice infestation

The ectoparasite attaches to the body surface of Salmon fish, the attachment is typically near the base of the fins or on the body surface.

While they feed on their host, they remain too small to cause significant harm. However, as they mature into more mobile pre-adult and adult stages, there is a shift in their attachment method to suction, making them more lethal.

They mostly feed on host mucus, skin, and underlying tissue.

 

Life cycle of sea lice

Symptoms –

 

• • Serious damage to the skin

• • Inflammation and Redness

• • Fins Erosion

• • Fatigue

• • Reduced Appetite

Prevention –

1.Functional feed:

Feed that contains ingredients that thicken the mucus layer, promote healing or repel copepods.

2.Sea lice trap:

Traps are placed around the pens which attract sea lice away from salmon using light and odorant.

3.Deep lights/feeding:

Salmon are attracted to depths without sea lice with light or feed.

4.Sea lice skirts:

A fabric that covers the top of the net prevents sea lice larvae from entering the sea pens.

Treatment –

1. Cleaner Fish:

Cleaner fish are housed in the same sea pens as salmon and eat sea lice that are on the salmon.

2. Hydrogen Peroxide:

Infected salmon are exposed to hydrogen peroxide at concentrations that kill sea lice.

3. Chemotherapeutics:  

Infected salmon are exposed to chemicals via baths or feed.

4. Mechanical:

Salmon are pumped through water jets. Sea lice are dislodged.

Norwegian Standards for Mean Sea Lice/ Fish

In Norway, strict regulations are in place to control sea lice levels in salmon farms to protect wild and farmed salmon populations. The Norwegian standards for the mean number of adult female sea lice per fish are as follows:

Threshold Levels

 

1. 1. Southern Norway:
      

       

      • • During the critical weeks of 15 to 21 (spring smolt migration), the limit is 0.2 adult female sea lice per fish.
      • • For the rest of the year, the threshold is 0.5 adult female sea lice per fish.

1. 1. Northern Norway:
      

       

      • • A uniform limit of 0.5 adult female sea lice per fish is maintained year-round

Also, in 2017, the government introduced a new category of “green permits,” which required sea-lice levels of between 0.25 and zero, and the demonstration of a new production method or equipment that would reduce sea-lice and/or escapement. Farms exceeding these limits must take immediate measures, such as delousing treatments.

Effects of the Residues between Plant‐derived Compounds and Chemical Treatments

HERE’S HOW WE ARE RECLAIMING THE BLUE…

Many studies have shown that essential oils, extracts, and isolated substances from plants might be an important and alternative oral and immersion treatment against parasites in aquaculture. These plant extracts are capable of enhancing immune responses and disease resistance of cultured fish, serving as a great phytotherapeutics against infections in aquaculture.

CRUSTAXE is a synergistic combination of plant-derived semiochemicals that precisely target the planktonic copepod crustaceans by avoiding all the unintended negative effects on the ecosystem. It can be incorporated into the functional feeds as a feed additive to repel the copepods. The bioactive present in ‘CRUSTAXE’, even at very low concentrations, can interfere with the host location and disrupt copepodid settlement on salmonid fish.

HOW DOES CRUSTAXE WORK?

Benefits

– Environment friendly

– Suits consumer food safety requirement’s

– Non-medical natural solution

 – Minimize dependence on chemotherapeutics

                          – No bioaccumulation

                                                              

“A sustainable initiative to manage sea lice challenges”

The poultry industry faces various health challenges, with diseases being a constant threat to flock growth and profitability. Infectious diseases like avian influenza, Newcastle disease, infectious bronchitis, coccidiosis, and salmonellosis as well as non-infectious issues like nutritional deficiencies and managemental disorders impact flock health. Notably, Coccidiosis is one of the most significant parasitic diseases caused by protozoa of the Eimeria species, adversely affecting the productivity and economic growth of poultry farmers.

Eimeria is ubiquitously present in almost all poultry farms but becomes clinically significant after ingestion of a large number of sporulated oocysts by poultry. It can spread easily through feed, dust, water, caging systems, equipment as well as by insects and rodents.

Impact of Coccidiosis on Poultry

Eimeria infection affects the mucosal cells of the host increasing membrane permeability, eventually impacting digestion and absorption of protein and other nutrients. This causes diarrhea and hemorrhage in extreme conditions. Coccidiosis in poultry also reduces weight, and feed conversion rate, and increases mortality, leading to significant losses in productivity and profitability.

Understanding Coccidiosis in Poultry

Coccidiosis in poultry is caused by Eimeria, a eukaryotic, host-specific, unicellular protozoa that infects the intestinal epithelium of poultry. Seven species of Eimeria that are infective in chicken include (E. acervulina, E. brunetti, E. maxima, E. mitis, E. necatrix, E. praecox and E. tenella). Among these, Eimeria tenella (ceca), Eimeria brunetti (lower small intestine, rectum, ceca, and cloaca), and Eimeria necatrix (proximal and mid portions of the small intestine) are considered more infectious in chickens than other species.

Species of Eimeria And Site of Infection

 

Life Cycle of Eimeria

Eimeria is transmitted by oral-faecal route. The life cycle of Eimeria consists of two distinct stages –

The exogenous phase (environmental) –

• • Sporogony happens after the oocyte is excreted by the bird. Sporozoite, surrounded by a resistant oocyst wall is the infective form of It is present in sporulated oocysts formed due to the division of protoplasm.

The endogenous phases (inside chicken) –

• • Sporulated oocysts begin to replicate after being ingested by chicken orally. The digestive enzymes and mechanical disruption help to release sporozoites from oocysts inside the intestine of chicken. The sporozoites released invade intestinal cells beginning schizogony, the asexual developmental stage, and developing first generation merozoites which further infects intestinal cells.

• • Gametes are formed after a few numbers of asexual cycles, beginning the development of the sexual stage known as gametogony. The sexual phase ends with the formation and release of oocysts into the intestinal lumen of the chicken which is then excreted in the environment. Oocysts after sporulation in the environment become infective.

Intensified poultry farming creates an environment suitable for the survival and spread of Eimeria oocysts, increasing the risk of infection among the flocks. The losses caused by Eimeria infection in poultry show the importance of effective control strategies. Various standard and innovative approaches have been developed to manage coccidiosis in poultry.

Control Methods Used

Traditional methods like anticoccidial medications and vaccines are used for the prevention and treatment of coccidiosis. However, the risk of drug resistance, consumer demand for residual-free poultry products, and increasing cost impact the significance of these methods.  In response to these challenges, natural and cost-effective alternatives have been used due to their safety and sustainability.  BIOCOCCIN is an herbal coccidiostat specifically designed to control Eimeria infection in poultry.

BIOCOCCIN – A Natural Coccidiosis Control

BIOCOCCIN is a phytogenic coccidiostat that helps to control coccidiosis in poultry. It acts on multiple species of Eimeria.  Phyto-molecules present in BIOCOCCIN prevent the release of the Eimeria sporozoites from the oocyst and its penetration in the intestinal epithelium i.e. mainly the Sporogony and Schizogony stages of the Eimeria cycle. It helps to prevent further damage to the intestine, reduces the oocyst shading, and helps to improve recovery from Eimeria infection in poultry.

Mode of Action of BIOCOCCIN 

The Phyto molecules of BIOCOCCIN show anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory actions which help to improve recovery from coccidiosis in poultry and reduce mortality rates. With BIOCOCCIN, farmers can safeguard their flocks and profits.

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