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Effects of the photovoltaic fishery breeding model on intestinal microbiota structure and diversity in Litopenaeus vannamei


Abstract

The photovoltaic (PV) fishery breeding model integrates the generation of solar energy with aquaculture, yet its impacts on aquatic organisms remain poorly understood. This study investigated how PV panel shading affects the intestinal microbial ecosystem of Litopenaeus vannamei. We conducted a controlled 80-day experiment comparing shrimp reared under PV panels (ZG group) versus those reared in traditional open ponds (CK group), with quadruplicate 800 m² ponds per group under standardized conditions (80 shrimp/m², salinity 15–18‰). High-throughput 16 S rRNA sequencing was employed to analyze microbial composition, diversity, and predicted functional profiles. The growth data were collected daily during the initial 20-day period and subsequently at five-day intervals thereafter. The results demonstrate that the ZG group exhibited significantly reduced body length compared to the CK group after 20 days of culture (P < 0.05), while body weight was significantly lower after 16 days (P < 0.05).‌ The results of the intestinal microbiota analysis showed that Proteobacteria and Firmicutes were the main components of the intestinal microbiota in the CK and ZG groups, while Oceanobacillus and Candidatus_Electronema were present as indicator species in the CK and ZG groups, respectively. Analysis of the Chao1 index and Shannon index revealed no significant differences in either the diversity or evenness of the intestinal microbiota of L. vannamei among the experimental groups. In addition, significant differences between the groups were detected by the β-diversity analysis. A predicted bacterial function analysis also revealed significant differences in functional abundance between the two groups. This study provides critical insight into how PV shading alters shrimp microbiota and growth performance, offering practical guidance for optimizing sustainable PV-aquaculture integrated systems.

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Data availability

The raw sequence data reported in this paper have been deposited in the Genome Sequence Archive in National Genomics Data Center, China National Center for Bioinformation / Beijing Institute of Genomics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CRA024106) that are publicly accessible at [https://ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/gsa](https:/ngdc.cncb.ac.cn/gsa) .

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Funding

This research was supported by Innovation of High Quality Fish Breeding Materials and Methods and Selection of New Varieties (Breeding Research Project) (2021YFYZ0015) and Sichuan Freshwater Fish Innovation Team of the National Modern Agricultural Industrial Technology System (SCCXTD-2025-15). In addition, We would like to thank Tongwei New Energy Co., Ltd. For their financial support in this study.

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Authors

Contributions

Z.Z.M., and L.Q. conceived and designed research. Z.Z.M., Z.H., W.Y.S, and C.X.Y. conducted experiments. Z.Z.M., Z.H., L.H.D., D.Y.L., H.Z.P., Z.L., and Z.J. analyzed data. Z.Z.M., C.X.Y., and L.Q. wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to
Xingyu Chen or Qiang Li.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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All animal handling procedures were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the Fisheries Research Institute, Sichuan Academy of Agricultural Sciences (20220323002 A), following the recommendations in the U.K. Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986. At the same time, all methods were carried out by relevant guidelines and regulations.

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Zhao, Z., Chen, X., Wang, Y. et al. Effects of the photovoltaic fishery breeding model on intestinal microbiota structure and diversity in Litopenaeus vannamei.
Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-34429-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-34429-x

Keywords


  • Litopenaeus vannamei
  • The photovoltaic fishery breeding model
  • Intestinal microbiota
  • Structural composition
  • Diversity


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