Effects of Different Level Administration of Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis on Growth Performance and Survival Rate of Artemia urmiana

The probiotic effects of two gram positive bacteria, Bacillus subtilis and Bacillus licheniformis, were examined on growth performance, body composition and survival rate of Artemia urmiana. Three diets containing 102 (T1), 104 (T2), 106 (T3) CFU of probiotics g Feed-1 and a control diet (C) without probiotic were used through a completely randomized design (each with three replicates). The used bacteria increased significantly the dry weight and total length of artemia (P<0.05). The highest amount of biomass production was observed in the second treatment (41.72 ± 14.91 mgL-1) compared to other treatments (P<0.05). Also the average daily growth, weight gain and specific growth rate were significantly improved in treatments (P<0.05). However, the condition factor in probiotic receiving treatments decreased significantly (P<0.05). The body composition also indicated the effectiveness of using the bacteria on dry matter and crude protein content in A. urmiana (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in ash and crude protein content among treatments. Probiotics had no significant effect on artemia survival. This experiment revealed that the second and the third treatments had the highest effect on growth indices and body composition however due to higher biomass production in second treatment (41.72 ± 14.91) compared to the third treatment (29.80 ± 1.80), and the lower probiotic needed in second treatment. It is recommended to use 104 CFU of probiotics g Feed-1 for growing Artemia urmiana.