Suppression of Saprolegnia infections in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) eggs using protective bacteria and ultraviolet irradiation of the hatchery water

Since formalin is widely used in prevention of Sapro- legnia infections in salmonid fish hatcheries, there is a need for more environmentally safe treatment methods. Therefore, we screened 360 bacterial iso- lates against their ability to antagonize the growth of Saprolegnia parasitica hyphae in vitro, and best strains were selected according to their antagonistic proper- ties and colonization capability on rainbow trout egg surface. Protective bacterial cultures of Pseudomonas sp. M162, Pseudomonas sp. M174 and Janthinobacte- rium M169 were tested for prevention of Saprolegnia sp. infections during incubation trials of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss )e ggs with UV irradiated (400 mWs cm � 2 ) and non-treated inlet water. UV irradiation of inlet water significantly decreased mor- tality during the incubation. Lowest mortalities were observed in protective culture treated groups incu- bated with UV-irradiated inlet water. UV irradiation increased the dominance of the main bacterial colo- nizers and variation in the bacterial species diversity between the experimental units.