ABSTRACT
In order to study the variation of microbial community structure and the mechanism of denitrification on bio-carrier in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) during the periods of bio-film formation and operation the systems, traditional microbiological methods were applied to count the quantity of heterotrophic bacteria, ammonia oxidize bacteria and nitrite oxidize bacteria. The amplified products of variable V3 region of bacterial 16S rDNA were separated by using denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). And bacterial community DNA fingerprint was obtained. The sequences retrieved from the DGGE bands were used for homology analysis and construction of phylogenetic tree. It presented a trend that the quantity of the three types of bacteria increased gradually to a top and then fallen slowly to a stable level. The composition of microbial community of bio-carrier was very abundant in all periods, and the Shannon index was 1.53, 1.44, 1.57, 1.08, 1.27 and 1.30, respectively. During different periods, there was a certain shift in the microbial community structure, while the C(s) value (similar index) in two adjacent periods was high, indicating the variation and succession of the microbial community was slow and regular. Several bacteria had an effect on removal of pollutants for farming water and the effluent water quality could meet the requirements of high-density culture. Among them, Proteobacteria and Flavobacteria were main communities. The Nitrosomonas and some other facultative anaerobic bacteria (Flavobacteriaceae bacterium) were identified, which indicated that there may be coexisted pathways of nitrification and denitrification in bio-filter.