Seasonal Variation of Culturable Benthic Soil Prokaryotic Microbiota as Potential Fish Pathogens and Probiotics from an Aquaculture Farm in East Kolkata Wetlands, India

Rising demand in the aquaculture sector tends towards finding innovative ways to promote better yield and profitability. Benthic soil microbiota can provide an insight into the potent opportunistic fish pathogens as well as probiotics present in the aquaculture system. This study reports the seasonal diversity and abundance of fifteen culturable pathogenic bacterial strains belonging to the genera of Comamonas, Aeromonas, Providencia, Klebsiella, Escherichia, Acinetobacter, Serratia, Stenotrophomonas, Staphylococcus, and Enterobacter along with nine probiotic strains native to genera of Bacillus and Pseudomonas isolated from an aquaculture farm benthic soil, located in East Kolkata Wetlands, West Bengal, India. Strains are isolated using traditional microbial culture methods and tested for their antimicrobial susceptibility against commonly available antibiotics. 16S rDNA analysis was done for the identification of the strains and the establishment of their phylogenetic relationships. Among the isolates, B. pumilus strain S8 in the pre-monsoon sample, E. coli strain M2aR1 in the monsoon sample, and A. hydrophila strain P6dF1 in the post-monsoon sample were the most abundant having MPN counts of 275 +/- 21 x 10(6) CFU/gram dry soil, 278 +/- 18 x 10(6) CFU/gram dry soil, and 321 +/- 28 x 10(6) CFU/gram dry soil respectively. Data on the temporal diversity, abundance, and drugsusceptibility of prokaryotic fish-pathogens and probiotics can be used to formulate measures for sustainable aquaculture practices with reduced maintenance costs.