Christopher Marlowe Caipang

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Associate Professor at University of the Philippines Visayas

This study investigated the gill mucus of Asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus) for the presence of antagonistic bacteria against known aquatic pathogens, Vibrio harveyi and Aeromonas hydrophila. Initial screening of 500 bacterial isolates via the spot-on-lawn and co-incubation assays, identified five with significant antagonistic activity, which were...

The Philippine shrimp aquaculture industry, a key supplier of Penaeus vannamei to domestic and international markets, faces significant disease challenges, particularly from pathogenic Vibrio species. Current disease management strategies often employ terrestrially-sourced probiotics, whose efficacy can be limited by environmental incompatibility w...

The emergence of loose shell syndrome (LSS) in Philippine mangrove crabs poses a serious threat to both the aquaculture industry and the delicate ecosystems it relies on. This study aimed to identify dominant bacteria associated with LSS and assess their antibiotic resistance to guide treatment and prevention strategies while safeguarding public he...

Disposal of industrial pineapple (Ananas comosus) wastes is a pressing environmental issue due to pollution risks when accumulated in large quantities. These wastes are susceptible to microbial spoilage, posing serious environmental and health concerns. Therefore, exploring their conversion into valuable products is crucial for effective waste mana...

Antimicrobial agents have been a crucial discovery in modern medicine and have revolutionized the treatment of infectious diseases. However, the rampant overuse and misuse of these agents have resulted in the emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), a global public health crisis that could lead to millions of deaths and severe economic losses....

The petrochemicals produced from refining oil have become a large part of human life, making oil a valuable and expensive commodity. As a non-renewable resource, extraction and transport efforts have intensified to keep up with the demand, increasing the occurrences of oil spills. Such accidents have devastating impacts on the environment, the heal...

The alarming increase in resistance of several pathogenic bacteria that infect humans resulted in existing antibiotics losing efficacy. Similarly, the aquaculture industry is facing the same problem with antibiotics being administered to fish to maintain their health. There is a need for new approaches to combat these pathogens, and currently, bact...

A sixty day feeding study was performed to determine the impact of diets enriched with various natural foods on growth and feed utilization of snakehead. Six hundred fingerlings weighing 4.33 to 4.71 g each fish were randomly stocked into 4 triplicate plastic tanks (1x1x1.5 m), fifty fish each tank. Four isoproteic and isoenergetic diets containing...

The use of DNA sequences has revolutionized biological classification, specifically through the utilization of the DNA barcode technique, which involves amplifying a standardized DNA fragment for the identification of plant and animal species. The methods and techniques involved in DNA barcoding are introduced and visualized in the paper. As incorp...

Litopenaeus vannamei is an important aquaculture species in the Philippines and in the world. Its production continues to increase due to its fast growth and lower protein requirement, making it a favorable species to culture. However, sustainability of the this industry is hampered by the occurrence of viral diseases. White spot syndrome virus (WS...

The majority of shrimp producers utilize probiotics derived from terrestrial sources as part of their aquaculture management. The beneficial effects of terrestrial probiotics on shrimp may be affected due to environmental differences between the cultivated species and the source of the probiotics. To ensure maximum effects on the host, it is essent...

A survey of medicinal plants in a local community in Guimbal, Iloilo, Philippines identified ten plant species namely, hagonoy (Chromolaena odorata), pitogo (Cycas rumphii), adgao (Premna odorata), labnog (Ficus leucantatoma), talus (Homalomena rubescens), sinaw-sinaw (Peperomia pellucida), palochina (Senna alata), badyang (Alocasia macrorrhizos);...

We aimed to determine the water quality of the biofloc-based nursery tank system and to isolate and characterize biofloc-associated bacteria from the rearing water of the whiteleg shrimp, Penaeus vannamei, during the nursery production phase in response to recommendations to further study biofloc composition. Serially-diluted biofloc water samples...

Succulents are admired for their beauty and have been popular among plant enthusiasts during the pandemic. However, succulents can also be tapped as potential sources of antibacterial compounds. Thus, this study aimed to determine the phytochemical compounds and antibacterial activity of selected succulents, Aloe maculata, Agave potatorum, and Grap...

Dietary salted by-catches and fish viscera meal mixtures could totally replace fishmeal without negative effect on growth performance of small size (4–25 g) river catfish Hemibagrus nemurus, however, their effects on carcass quality and growth of on-growing river catfish remained uninvestigated. The present study therefore was conducted to assess t...

The use of biofloc technology has positive effects on the quality of water and utilization of feed through the recycling microbial protein during the culture of commercially important finfishes. This culture technology is also used in the rearing of ornamental fish to address limitations on land space and water use as well to minimize the impacts o...

Nursery production of shrimp is usually done in small ponds; however, the use of small and circular tanks with plastic liners is gaining popularity. From an industry standpoint, there is still a need to assess how nursery systems can be of benefit to the shrimp production cycle. Hence, the use of small circular tanks coupled with the incorporation...

The phytochemical constituents, total phenolic and flavonoid contents, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the ethanolic extract of the marine green alga Ulva pertusa collected from floating fish net cages off the coast of Guimaras island, Philippines, were investigated. Qualitative phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of bioactive...

Of several isolates from saline‐tolerant tilapia exhibiting anti‐vibrio activity, an isolate that demonstrated inhibitory activity with the biggest zone of inhibition against the shrimp pathogens, Vibrio harveyi and V. parahaemolyticus were chosen and investigated in this study. The isolate showed significant inhibition against the shrimp pathogens...

The increasing global population resulted in intense pressure on the food production sectors to meet the rise in food demand. The aquaculture industry, which is one of the major food production sectors, provides opportunities in addressing issues on malnutrition and poverty alleviation. Shrimp farming is an important sub-sector in aquaculture becau...

Aims: This study aims to determine the effects of the different fruit wastes (banana, citrus and pineapple peel) on the zootechnical parameters (weight gain (WG), length, specific growth rate (SGR), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and survival of tilapia fingerlings (Oreochromis sp.) and to select which feed supplement is suitable for tilapia fingerlin...

Biofloc technology (BFT) is an approach in the rearing of fish and shrimp as a means to support intensive culture, maintain optimum water quality, recycle the nutrients and reduce feed costs. The technology is primarily based on the principle of recycling nitrogenous wastes into microbial biomass that can be assimilated by the cultured animals as f...

The stress response in vertebrates is determined by measuring cortisol production following acute or chronic exposure to various environmental stimuli. Cortisol assays as responses to stressful events are done on blood samples using ELISA or radio-immunoassays. However, these procedures require expensive reagents and special equipment that are not...

The online social networking, Facebook has gained much popularity among the public primarily for interactions and for the exchange of information. However, the extent of the benefits of this social networking platform in facilitating students’ learning needs to be assessed. A quantitative descriptive study was conducted to determine the perceptions...

In the context of responsible handling and good welfare practices, fish must be anesthetized to lessen the effects of the stressors to the fish. There are a number of commercially available anesthetics that are being marketed, but some of these products are not easily accessed by fish farmers in some aquaculture sites particularly those in the rura...

The pressures brought about by the increase in human population resulted in the rapid expansion of the food production industries including aquaculture to provide the nutritional requirements of the growing population. As aquaculture operations intensify, there is also an urgent need to preserve the environment; hence, all activities must be carrie...

Restriction or ban on antibiotic administration in aquaculture encourages the development of environment-friendly feed additives as immunostimulants. Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) and their salts are “Generally Regarded as Safe” and are often used as antimicrobials in the livestock feed industry. Formate, acetate, propionate, butyrate and their s...

The present study investigates the efficiency of graded levels (0, 0.25, 0.5, 1 and 2%) of sodium propionate (SP) on Caspian white fish (R. frisii kutum) fry growth performance, skin mucus immune response as well as humoral immune parameters. Fish were divided into 5 groups repeated in triplicates and each group were fed on experimental diets for 7...

The use of sweet potato, Ipomoea batatas flour as a carbon source for biofloc production in freshwater culture of tilapia, Oreochromis sp., was evaluated in terms of its effects on water quality, microbial population and fish yield. The experiment was conducted using 20 L glass aquaria with two sources of carbon, namely, wheat flour and sweet potat...

The present study investigated the effects of various stocking densities on the health status (stress and immune responses) of rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss). Juvenile rainbow trout were acclimated, placed in circular tanks under stocking densities of 10, 40 and 80 kg m-3 and reared for 30 days. The relative expression of genes involved in st...

Biofloc technology (BFT) has beneficial effects in aquaculture management, including water quality, feeding and disease control. Application of BFT in aquaculture offers a solution to avoid the environmental impact of high nutrient discharges and to reduce the use of artificial feed. In BFT, excess of nutrients in aquaculture systems are converted...

Outbreaks of luminous vibriosis in commercial shrimp ponds have been the major cause in the decline of shrimp production in most tropical countries. The causative agent of this disease is Vibrio harveyi, and is one of the many Vibrio species that affect Asian aquaculture. Efforts to prevent the occurrence of luminous vibriosis in shrimp ponds are l...

The use of vaccines in aquaculture is one of the widely accepted methods of preventing most pathogenic diseases. In warmwater aquaculture, various species of tilapia, Oreochromis spp., and the Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer are widely farmed in freshwater and brackishwater ponds and cages because of their high demand in the market both for local c...

White spot syndrome virus (WSSV) is considered as one of the serious viral pathogens of shrimp. There are several preventive measures that have been developed to curb the devastating effects of this virus in shrimp aquaculture. Juvenile shrimps, Penaeus (Metapenaeus) japonicus were fed with commercial feeds that were mixed with recombinant VP28, a...

The aim of this study was to standardize a loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for the detection of Vibrio harveyi, the causative agent of vibriosis in Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer. The dnaJ gene of the bacterial pathogen was used as the target gene for the LAMP assay. It was optimized at an incubation time of 1 h at 630C. The as...

Rotifers are considered possible vectors of the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and have been implicated in its recurrence in pond-cultured shrimp. However, direct evidence of the transmission and the pathogenicity of this virus from rotifers to shrimp has been lacking. In the present study, the pathogenicity of WSSV transmitted from infected roti...

Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) technique is an emerging diagnostic tool for the rapid and sensitive detection of pathogens in aquaculture. In this study, the LAMP assay was evaluated for the detection of the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV), a serious viral pathogen affecting all life stages of penaeid shrimps. The optimum time and t...

Partial sequence of the dnaJ gene of Vibrio harveyi, which was isolated from diseased juvenile Asian seabass, Lates calcarifer was identified. The partial sequence of dnaJ gene of V. harveyi was 447 bp and shared at least 77% identity at the nucleotide level with the dnaJ gene of other Vibrios. It was distinct from the dnaJ gene of other Vibrios bu...

Phytases are phosphohydrolases that catalyze the release of phosphate from phytate (myo inositol hexakisphosphate), the major phosphorus (P) form mostly occurring in animal feeds of plant origin. These enzymes can be supplemented in animal diets to reduce inorganic phosphorus supplementation and fecal phosphorus excretion. Four species of Bacillus...

Shrimp culture is considered as one of the major industries in most aquaculture-producing countries in Asia. This industry has grown steadily over the years, but its gradual decline is due to several disease outbreaks of either bacterial or viral in origin. Luminous vibrios is, which is caused mainly by Vibrio harveyi has been implicated for mass m...

Phytases are histidine acid phosphatases that catalyze the hydrolysis of phytic acid toinorganic phosphorus and myo-inositol phosphates. The phosphorus that is being released is used invarious metabolic processes. These enzymes are able to promote the growth of animals and plants aswell as increase the nutritional value of feedstuffs through dephyt...