Spirulina as a functional ingredient in broiler chicken diets

Abstract

In recent years there has been increased interest in the production of novel functional foods by utilizing eco-friendly materials and methods. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to determine the effects of dietary spirulina (Spirulina platensis), a blue-green microalga, on growth performance, meat oxidative stability and fatty acid profile of broiler chickens. One hundred and twenty one-day-old broiler chickens of mixed sex were weighed individually and assigned randomly to three treatment groups with four replications of 10 birds. All birds were housed in floor cages with litter, and conventional breeding and management procedures were applied throughout the 42-day trial period. The treatment groups were as follows: control: 0 g spirulina/kg feed; S05: 5 g spirulina/kg feed; S10: 10 g spirulina/kg feed. The birds were fed with maize and soybean meal-based commercial diets for the starter (1 to 14 days), grower (15 to 28 days) and finisher (29 to 42 days) periods. Feed and drinking water were offered to all birds ad libitum. The results of the experiment showed that bodyweight gain (at 21 d and 42 d), feed conversion ratio and mortality did not differ among the groups, nor did breast and thigh meat lipid oxidation differ among the groups. The fatty acid profile of the thigh meat was enriched in polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially eicosapentaenoic acid and docosahexaenoic acid after spirulina supplementation. Therefore, spirulina could be a promising functional ingredient in broiler chicken nutrition.

Replacement of vitamin-mineral premix by Spirulina and its effect on the performance of broiler

“…So, the feed intake of these groups is good and the FCR was not significantly different (p>0.05). But in group 6, birds were deficient in their needed vitamins and minerals, so their feed intake was more to recover the nutrient requirements [8]. So that, their FCR was higher than another group though there was no significant difference among them (p>0.05).…”

“…Soybean oil was mixed with this mixture step by step. Then the salt, Di-calcium phosphate, Choline Chloride, Lysine, DLMethionine were added except VitaminMineral Premix and Spirulina [8]. Group 1 was controlled and no Spirulina was used.…”

“…About 30% of the total production of algae is being used as animal feed production [1]. Some studies have already been done by some researcher regarding suitability of algae as an animal and poultry feed [1,[5][6][7][8][9][10]. Moreover, the broiler is a very popular poultry item in Bangladesh [11][12][13] and other countries which supplied a major portion of meat demand.…”

Effect of feeding duration of <i>Spirulina platensis</i> on growth performance, haematological parameters, intestinal microbial population and carcass traits of broiler chicks

“…As well as growth and health performances, treatment with S. platensis was reported to increase carcass percentage and ready-to-cook yields of broiler chicks in the studies of Raju et al (2004), Kaoud (2012) and Holman & Malau-Aduli (2013). Moreover, Bonos et al (2016) showed that Spirulina supplementation (5 g/kg) was capable of improving the meat quality of broiler, that is, increasing the contents of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in the thigh muscles of broiler chicks. Taken together, S. platensis seems to have potential to replace the role of antibiotics in broiler diets.…”

“…As an alternative to in-feed antibiotics, S. platensis has commonly been administered to broiler diets from day of hatch to slaughter age (Qureshi et al, 1996;Jamil et al, 2015;Bonos et al, 2016). Compared with antibiotics and other broiler feed ingredients, S. platensis is more expensive (Holman & Malau-Aduli, 2013).…”