Recent trends in development and application of shrimp immunostimulants for disease management in farming systems

Abstract

A class of compounds known as immunostimulants is increasingly becoming popular and commercialised for applications in aquaculture. These compounds ranging from complex mixtures of proteins and lipids to carbohydrate based cell wall extracts are believed to increase the non-specific immunity of crustaceans so as to provide them with a variety of defensive ability to protect against the infections from pathogens. The crustacean immune system, few examples of commercially available immunostimulants, their mechanism of action and their utility in improving the crustacean defense system are discussed