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

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.