Sumya Kibria

BACKGROUND: Microalgae can serve as an alternative to animal feed additives or supplements in the diet of weaning pigs, to increase their potential and performance. Two experiments were conducted with three dietary treatments: CON (basal diet), MA1 (basal diet + 0.5% microalgae), and MA2 (basal diet + 1.0% microalgae). In Experiment 1, 150 crossbred weaning pigs were used in a 5‐week experiment. In Experiment 2, 15 cannulated barrows were used.The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary supplementation of Schizochytrium microalgae on growth performance, blood profiles, apparent total tract digestibility, and ileal nutrient digestibility in weaning pigs.RESULTS: In Experiment 1, pigs fed with MA2 had higher growth (P < 0.05) than pigs fed with MA1 from day 8 to day 21 but the experimental result showed no significant effects (P > 0.05) on growth performance, white blood cell, total cholesterol, and triglyceride among the treatments. However, lymphocytes (%) of pigs fed with MA1 and MA2 diets were significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of pigs fed with a CON diet at day 35. In Experiment 2, the apparent total tract digestibility and ileal nutrient digestibility of dry matter and nitrogen were higher (P < 0.05) in pigs fed with MA1 and MA2 than in those fed with a CON diet.CONCLUSION: Dietary microalgae supplementation had more dramatic and beneficial effects on nutrient digestibility than a CON diet. It also increased lymphocyte concentration but had no significant effect on growth performance in weaning pigs. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry