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Effects of Chlorella vulgaris as a feed ingredient on the quality and nutritional value of weaned piglets' meat

Publication . Martins, Cátia Falcão; Pestana, José M.; Alfaia, Cristina; Costa, Mónica; Ribeiro, D. M.; Coelho, Diogo; Lopes, Paula Alexandra; Almeida, André; Freire, João; Prates, José A.M

Chlorella vulgaris (CH) is usually considered a feed supplement in pig nutrition, and its use as an ingredient is poorly studied. Among many interesting characteristics, this microalga has high protein levels and can be a putative alternative for soybean meal. Our aim was to study the effect of a 5% CH incorporation in the diet, individually or combined with two carbohydrases, on meat quality traits and nutritional value. Forty-four post-weaned male piglets individually housed, with an initial live weight of 11.2 ± 0.46 kg, were randomly distributed into four experimental groups: control (n = 11, without CH) and three groups fed with 5% CH incorporation, plain (n = 10), with 0.005% Rovabio® Excel AP (n = 10), and with 0.01% of a pre-selected four-CAZyme mixture (n = 11). After two weeks of trial, piglets were slaughtered and longissimus lumborum collected. CH had no effect on piglets’ growth performance. In turn, incorporation of CH improved the nutritional value of meat by increasing total carotenoids and n-3 PUFA content, thus contributing to a more positive n-6/n-3 fatty acid ratio. The supplementation with Rovabio® benefited tenderness and increased overall acceptability of pork. Our results show beyond doubt the viability of the utilization of this microalga as a feed ingredient for swine production.

2021-05-21Journal article

Open access

Influence of dietary Spirulina inclusion and lysozyme supplementation on the longissimus lumborum muscle proteome of newly weaned piglets

Publication . Ribeiro, David M.; Martins, Cátia F.; Kules, Josipa; Horvatic, Anita; Guillemin, Nicolas; Freire, João; Eckersall, P. David; Almeida, André M.; Prates, José A.M.

Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina) is a microalga with a high content of crude protein. Its recalcitrant cell wall limits the accessibility of the animal endogenous enzymes to its intracellular nutrients. Enzymatic supplementation aiming to degrade cell walls could benefit microalgae digestibility. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of dietary Spirulina and lysozyme supplementation over the muscle proteome of piglets during the post-weaning stage. Thirty piglets were randomly distributed among three diets: control (no microalga), SP (10% Spirulina) and SP+L (10% Spirulina + 0.01% lysozyme). After 4 weeks, they were sacrificed and samples of the longissimus lumborum muscle were taken. The muscle proteome was analysed using a Tandem Mass Tag (TMT)-based quantitative approach. A total of 832 proteins were identified. Three comparisons were computed: SP vs Ctrl, SP+L vs Ctrl and SP+L vs SP. They had ten, four and twelve differentially abundant proteins. Glycogen metabolism and nutrient reserves utilization are seemingly increased in the SP piglets. Structural muscle protein synthesis increased, causing higher energy requirements in SP+L piglets. Our results demonstrate the usefulness of proteomics to disclose the effect of dietary microalgae, whilst unveiling putative mechanisms derived from lysozyme supplementation. Data are available via ProteomeXchange with identifier PXD024083

2021Journal article

Open access

Impact of dietary Chlorella vulgaris and carbohydrate-active enzymes incorporation on plasma metabolites and liver lipid composition of broilers

Publication . Coelho, Diogo; Alfaia, Cristina; Pestana, JMP; Costa, Mónica; Pinto, Rui; Fontes, Carlos M.G.A.; Lordelo, Madalena; Prates, José A.M

Background: Chlorella vulgaris has been proposed as a sustainable green feedstock in poultry nutrition due to its ease of cultivation, minimal environmental impact and balanced nutritional composition. However, the majority of studies documents the use of C. vulgaris as a dietary supplement in broilers instead of a feed ingredient. To the best of our knowledge, no report has shown the effect of a high-level incorporation (>2 % in the diet) of C. vulgaris on plasma metabolites and hepatic lipid composition of broilers. One hundred and twenty Ross 308 male birds were housed in 40 wired-floor cages and randomly distributed by the following experimental diets at 22 days of age (n = 10) during 15 days: (1) a corn-soybean meal based diet (control); (2) based diet with 10% of C. vulgaris; (3) diet 2 supplemented with 0.005% Rovabio® Excel AP; and (4) diet 2 supplemented with 0.01% of a pre-selected four-CAZyme mixture. Results: The inclusion of C. vulgaris at 10% in the diet, regardless of the presence of exogenous CAZymes, changed plasma metabolites but did not compromise broilers growth. Plasma total lipids increased in broilers fed C. vulgaris combined with the two feed CAZymes (p < 0.001) compared with the control diet. Moreover, the supplementation with Rovabio® increased total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol, while the addition of the four-CAZyme mixture increased triacylglycerols, VLDL-cholesterol and ALP activity. In opposition, HDL-cholesterol levels decreased in broilers fed microalga alone (p = 0.002). Regarding hepatic composition, the inclusion of C. vulgaris in broiler diets, individually or combined with exogenous CAZymes, had a minor effect on fatty acids but improved the n-6/n-3 ratio and total carotenoids. Conclusions: In summary, the inclusion of a high level (10%) of C. vulgaris in broiler´s diet, regardless of the presence of exogenous CAZymes, improved hepatic antioxidant composition and did not impair broiler’s performance. In addition, the feed supplementation with CAZymes increased broilers lipemia. Therefore, dietary C. vulgaris at this incorporation level seems to be safe for animal health and do not compromise performance traits, with no need of CAZymes supplementation.

2021-06-29Journal article

Open access