Impact of high Spirulina diet, extruded or supplemented with enzymes, on blood cells, systemic metabolites, and hepatic lipid and mineral profiles of broiler chickens

Maria P Spínola; Cristina M Alfaia; Mónica M Costa; Rui M A Pinto; Paula A Lopes; José M Pestana; João C Tavares; Ana R Mendes; Miguel P Mourato; Beatriz Tavares; Daniela F P Carvalho; Cátia F Martins; Joana I Ferreira; Madalena M Lordelo; José A M Prates

doi:10.3389/fvets.2024.1342310

Impact of high Spirulina diet, extruded or supplemented with enzymes, on blood cells, systemic metabolites, and hepatic lipid and mineral profiles of broiler chickens

Front Vet Sci. 2024 Mar 26:11:1342310. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1342310. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Maria P Spínola^#^{1

2}, Cristina M Alfaia^#^{1

2}, Mónica M Costa^#^{1

2}, Rui M A Pinto^{3

4}, Paula A Lopes^{1

2}, José M Pestana^{1

2}, João C Tavares⁵, Ana R Mendes^{1

2

5

6}, Miguel P Mourato^{5

6}, Beatriz Tavares⁵, Daniela F P Carvalho^{5

6}, Cátia F Martins^{1

2

5

6}, Joana I Ferreira^{1

2}, Madalena M Lordelo^{5

6}, José A M Prates^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ CIISA - Centro de Investigação Interdisciplinar em Sanidade Animal, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
² Laboratório Associado para Ciência Animal e Veterinária (AL4AnimalS), Lisbon, Portugal.
³ JCS, Laboratório de Análises Clínicas Dr. Joaquim Chaves, Avenida General Norton de Matos, Algés, Portugal.
⁴ iMED.UL, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Professor Gama Pinto, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁵ Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal.
⁶ LEAF - Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Associated Laboratory TERRA, Lisbon, Portugal.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

The impact of 15% dietary inclusion of Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) in broiler chickens was explored, focusing on blood cellular components, systemic metabolites and hepatic lipid and mineral composition. From days 14 to 35 of age, 120 broiler chickens were divided and allocated into four dietary treatments: a standard corn and soybean meal-based diet (control), a 15% Spirulina diet, a 15% extruded Spirulina diet, and a 15% Spirulina diet super-dosed with an enzyme blend (0.20% porcine pancreatin plus 0.01% lysozyme). The haematological analysis revealed no significant deviations (p > 0.05) in blood cell counts across treatments, suggesting that high Spirulina inclusion maintains haematological balance. The systemic metabolic assessment indicated an enhanced antioxidant capacity in birds on Spirulina diets (p < 0.001), pointing toward a potential reduction in oxidative stress. However, the study noted a detrimental impact on growth performance metrics, such as final body weight and feed conversion ratio (both p < 0.001), in the Spirulina-fed treatments, with the super-dosed enzyme blend supplementation failing to alleviate these effects but with extrusion mitigating them. Regarding hepatic composition, birds on extruded Spirulina and enzyme-supplemented diets showed a notable increase in n-3 fatty acids (EPA, DPA, DHA) (p < 0.001), leading to an improved n-6/n-3 PUFA ratio (p < 0.001). Despite this positive shift, a reduction in total hepatic lipids (p = 0.003) was observed without a significant change in cholesterol levels. Our findings underscore the need for further exploration into the optimal inclusion levels, processing methods and potential enzymatic enhancements of Spirulina in broiler diets. Ultimately, this research aims to strike a balance between promoting health benefits and maintaining optimal growth performance in poultry nutrition.

Keywords: feed enzymes; hepatic compounds; microalga extrusion; plasma metabolites; poultry nutrition.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was financially supported by grants awarded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Lisbon, Portugal) to CIISA (UIDB/00276/2020), AL4AnimalS (LA/P/0059/2020), and LEAF (UIDB/04129/2020). Additional financial assistance was provided by the FCT Stimulus of Scientific Employment Program to PL (DL57/2016/CP1438/CT0007), a Post-Doctoral fellowship to JP (SFRH/BPD/116816/2016), a PhD grant to MS (UI/BD/153071/2022) and a PhD grant to AM (2022.11690.BD). The project also received funding from the Portugal 2020 project (P2020/17/SI/70114/2019) and an associated researcher contract for MC.