New Nutritional Strategies for Inducing Growth and Controlling Diseases in Aquaculture
A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Aquatic Animals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 15
Special Issue Editor
Interests: functional feeds with high levels of plant ingredients and probiotic bacteria for improving fish and shrimp digestion, pathogen control, and water bioremediation; microalgae molecular characterization; microalgae growth conditions; microalgae pigment production; marine natural products; shrimp microbial pathogens; marine biotechnology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The aquaculture industry faces unprecedented challenges that require innovative nutritional strategies transcending traditional growth promotion paradigms. This Special Issue introduces a comprehensive framework of bioactive compounds (probiotics, prebiotics, and phytobiotics) as tools for multidimensional host modulation in aquatic systems. Its contemporary application extends far beyond conventional growth enhancement, encompassing complex molecular mechanisms including microbiome engineering, quorum-sensing modulation, and epigenetic programming. This Special Issue integrates cutting-edge nutrigenomic concepts, where bioactive compound intervention orchestrates precise gene expression profiles leading to optimized host physiological responses. Through functional nutrition approaches, bioactive compounds serve as transcriptional modulators, influencing metabolic pathways that enhance disease resistance while simultaneously promoting sustainable growth patterns. The proposed model highlights microbiome–host interactions as dynamic ecosystems where bioactive compound-mediated quorum-sensing disruption provides novel disease control mechanisms independent of traditional antimicrobial approaches. Emerging evidence demonstrates that strategic compound supplementation can induce epigenetic modifications, thereby creating heritable changes in host phenotype without altering genetic sequences. This epigenetic dimension opens unprecedented opportunities for metabolic modulation, enabling aquaculture practitioners to program desired traits through targeted nutritional interventions. We invite researchers to contribute original investigations, including microbiome modulation, nutrigenomics and epigenetic gene regulation, and metabolic pathway alteration, in order to establish bioactive compounds as precision tools for sustainable aquaculture optimization.
We look forward to receiving your contributions.
Dr. Jorge Olmos-Soto
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- functional nutrition
- bioactive compounds
- probiotics
- prebiotics and phytobiotics
- nutrigenomics
- epigenetic
- antimicrobial compounds
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
