AQUAWELL

The microbiome is an essential contributor to animal health and welfare (H&W) through participating in vital physiological processes and guiding host development. The positive connection between diverse microbiome and animal H&W has been shown in the terrestrial farmed animals, while it has only gained attention in the aquatic farming environment. In this project, we aim to provide fundamental knowledge on how steering the gut microbiome influences the fishs health and welfare in aquaculture. The work will be done using rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), which has a major industrial and societal significance in global food production and is farmed across the whole of Europe. We will set the foundation for the use of water quality during early life or faecal transplantation for targeted manipulation of gut microbiome to optimize life-long fish health and welfare and investigate the individual variation and role of fish genetics in this, the stability and resilience of gut microbiome later in fish life, and the response to stress and disease of fish with different gut microbiome profiles. The project is highly multidisciplinary, involving experts from Denmark, the UK, Portugal, Austria, and Finland in the fields of microbiology and fish genomics, nutrition, stress biology, welfare, and health. The results of the project will help in improving aquaculture fish resilience and robustness and welfare in a sustainable way and in reducing mortalities, lowering the use of medicines of environmental concern such as antibiotics, and increasing the economic revenue of fish farms; all of it while addressing the increasing public concern about animal welfare in aquaculture.