Effectiveness of Bacillus as a probiotic to improve the growth, survival, and feed conversion ratio in aquaculture: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACTThe current study uses meta-analysis to quantitatively synthesize the effectiveness of Bacillus as a potential probiotic in aquaculture. Studies were selected based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines using Web of Science and Google Scholar. Hedges’ g effect size was used to quantify differences in final weight, specific growth r ate (SGR), survival rate (SR) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of fish treated with Bacillus compared to the control. In addition, heterogeneity, moderator effect and publication bias were estimated. All analyses were conducted using metafor package in the program R. Significantly higher final weight, SGR, SR and significantly lower FCR were detected in the overall analysis and all the subgroup analysis for fish, crustaceans, freshwater and marine fish compared to control. A significant level of heterogeneity was identified across the studies, and species was identified as a significant moderator influencing the magnitude of the effect of Bacillus spp.KEYWORDS: Bacillusgrowth performancesHedges’ g effect sizeheterogeneityprobioticsmeta-analysis AcknowledgmentsWe would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to those who have taken time to critically review earlier versions of this manuscript as well as the researchers of the original scientific publications used in this study.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Data availability statementThe authors would like to confirm that the data associated with this paper are available at Department of Aquaculture and Fisheries, Faculty of Livestock, Fisheries and Nutrition, Wayamba University of Sri Lanka and could be accessed based on an official request.