Studies on the Bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens Recovered from Some Cultured Tilapia Fishes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with Special Reference to its Pathogenicity PDF

Keywords

studies, pseudomonas, cultured fish, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

A total of 200 naturally diseased live tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fishes were collected from 15 freshwater fish farms from three provinces of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the period of Muharram to Shaban 1419 H. These fishes were subjected to clinical, microbiological and postmortem examination. The results obtained revealed different forms of clinical signs and pathological lesions with various intensities due to Pseudomonas fluorescens bacteria. The analysis of the data obtained on the incidence of P. fluorescens bacteria among naturally infected fishes showed remarkable differences from one province to another, the incidence was (28.90%) in Riyadh Province, (12.76%) in Eastern Province and (16.0%) in Makkah Province. The total incidence in all infected fishes was 23.5%. The bacteriological examinations resulted in recovery of 47 P. fluorescens strains. In vitro antibiotic susceptibility clarified the sensitivity of recovered strains of Gentamicin, Neomycin, Oxytetracycline, Ceftazidime, Sulfonamide Compounds, Kanamycin and Nalidixic acid and their resistance to Erythromycin, Chloramphenicol and Nitrofurantoin. Experimental infection with isolated strains resulted in the development if different clinical signs and pathological lesions resembling those seen in fishes naturally infected with the same microbe. The finding of this study proved the occurrence of P. fluorescens infections among cultured fish in the fish farms of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.