DietarySpirulina PlatensisEnhances Humoral and Cell-Mediated Immune Functions in Chickens

Abstract

Cornell K-strain White Leghorns and broiler chicks were raised to 7 wks and 3 wks of age respectively, with diets containing various levels (0, 10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000 ppm) of Spirulina platensis from day of hatch. Chicks in all treatment groups had comparable body weights. While bursal and splenic weights did not change, the K-strain chicks had larger thymuses (P < or = .05) over the controls (0 ppm group). No differences were observed in anti-sheep red blood cells antibodies during primary response. However, during secondary response, K-strain chicks in all Spirulina-dietary groups had higher total anti-SRBC titers with 10,000 ppm group being the highest (6.8 Log2) versus the 0 ppm (5.5 Log2) group. In broiler chicks, a one Log increase in IgG (P < or = .05) was observed in 10,000 ppm group over the controls. Similarly, chicks in 10,000 ppm Spirulina group had a higher PHA-P-mediated lymphoproliferative response over the 0 ppm controls. Macrophages isolated from both K-strain (10,000 ppm group) and broilers from all Spirulina groups had higher phagocytic potential than the 0 ppm groups. Spirulina supplementation at 10,000 ppm level also increased NK-cell activity by two fold over the controls. These studies show that Spirulina supplementation increases several immunological functions implying that a dietary inclusion of Spirulina at a level of 10,000 ppm may enhance disease resistance potential in chickens.

Spirulina as a functional ingredient in broiler chicken diets

“…Mortality was very low (only one bird in the control group died) and therefore did not differ (P >0.05) among groups. These results are in agreement with those of previous researchers (Ross & Dominy, 1990;Venkataraman et al, 1994;Qureshi et al, 1996;Gongnet et al, 2001;Toyomizu et al, 2001), who recorded nonsignificant effects of dietary spirulina supplementation on performance parameters, although it has been reported that spirulina inclusion over 100 g/kg could depress the birds' growth (Ross & Dominy, 1990). In contrast, other researchers (Kharde et al, 2012;Shanmugapriya & Saravana Babu, 2014) reported that dietary spirulina significantly improved weight gain and feed efficiency of chickens compared with the control groups.…”

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

“…A number of studies have revealed the consistent benefits of S. platensis on the growth and health performances of broiler chickens (Qureshi et al, 1996;Raju et al, 2004;Kaoud, 2012;Jamil et al, 2015;Shanmugapriya et al, 2015a;Lokapirnasari et al, 2016;Yusuf et al, 2016). Based on these published data, the authors inferred that S. platensis could be an alternative to in-feed antibiotics for broiler chickens.…”

“…Concomitantly, Yusuf et al (2016) reported an increased Lactobacilli population in the gut of Japanese quails with feeding S. platensis. In terms of immunity, earlier studies by Qureshi et al (1996) and Raju et al (2004) reported that feeding S. platensis enhanced the humoral and cellular immune responses and lymphoid organ development of chicks. Recently, Lokapirnasari et al (2016) showed that treatment with S. platensis increased the number of leukocytes and decreased the mortality rate of broiler chicks.…”

“…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).…”

Comparative Study on Heavy Metals Biosorption by Different Types of Bacteria

“…Heavy metal pollution represents an important environmental problem because of toxic effects of metals. Interest in the development of metal removal by biosorption using microorganisms is shown in literature [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Cyanobacteria (blue green algae) represent the largest and most diverse group of photosynthetic prokaryotes.…”