Immuno-protective efficiency of feed-based whole-cell inactivated bivalent vaccine against Streptococcus and Aeromonas infections in red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus × Oreochromis mossambicus)

Streptococcosis and motile aeromonad septicemia (MAS) are well-known diseases in tilapia culture, which cause mass mortality with significant economic losses. The development of feed-based bivalent vaccines in controlling these diseases has been initiated, however, the mechanisms of immunities and cross-protection in fish remain unclear. This study was conducted to assess the immuno-protective as well as the cross-protective efficacy of a newly developed feed-based bivalent vaccine against Streptococcus and Aeromonas infections in red hybrid tilapia. A total of five groups of fish were vaccinated orally through two different techniques; bivalent vaccine (inactivated Streptococcus iniae and Aeromonas hydrophila) sprayed on feed pellets (BS group); bivalent vaccine (inactivated S. iniae and A. hydrophila) incorporated in feed (BI group); monovalent inactivated S. iniae and A. hydrophila vaccine separately incorporated into feed as monovalent S. iniae (MS group) and monovalent A. hydrophila (MA group); and control group (without vaccine). The feed-based vaccine was delivered orally at 5% of body weight for five consecutive days. The booster doses were given in the same manner on weeks 2 and 6. Serum and skin mucus samples were collected to assess the IgM responses using indirect ELISA. The first administration of the feed-based vaccine stimulated the IgM levels that lasted until week 3, while the second booster ensured that the IgM levels remained high for a period of 16 weeks in the BI, MS and MA groups. The BI group developed a strong and significantly (P < 0.05) higher systemic and mucosal IgM responses against both S. iniae and A. hydrophila and also cross-protective antigen S. agalactiae and A. veronii compared to the BS and control groups. Quantitative real-time PCR results also showed that the relative expressions of IL-8, INF-γ and IgM in the BI immunized fish spleen, head kidney and hindgut exhibited various significant (P < 0.05) rising trends following both the vaccination and the challenge phase. On weeks 10, all fish were challenged through the intraperitoneal route, where relative percent survivals (RPS) of 82.22 ± 3.85% when challenged with S. iniae, 77.78 ± 3.85% when challenged with A. hydrophila and 77.78 ± 3.85% when co-challenged with both S. iniae and A. hydrophila were observed in the BI group, which were significantly higher (P < 0.05) compared to the other groups. The BI group also showed significantly (P < 0.05) higher partial cross-protections following challenges with S. agalactiae (RPS at 60.00 ± 6.67%) and A. veronii (RPS at 57.78 ± 7.70%). This study demonstrated that immunization with feed-based BI vaccine elicited immune responses that were capable of protecting red hybrid tilapia against streptococcosis and MAS.