Effect of dietary Chlorella vulgaris and carbohydrate-active enzymes on the general health, immune status, antioxidant capacity, and liver lipids and metabolites of weaned piglets

<p>It was evaluated&nbsp;the impact of dietary inclusion of&nbsp;<em>Chlorella vulgaris&nbsp;</em>(CH) and carbohydrases on the general health, immune and oxidative status, and hepatic lipids and metabolites of piglets. Forty-four male weaned piglets were allocated into four diets: control (<em>n</em>=11), CH (control diet with 5% CH,&nbsp;<em>n</em>=10), CH+R (control diet with 5% CH plus 0.005% Rovabio^&reg;Excel AP,&nbsp;<em>n</em>=10), and CH+M (control diet with 5% CH plus 0.01% of a pre-selected four-CAZyme mixture,&nbsp;<em>n</em>=11) for 15 days. Total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and VLDL-cholesterol were increased by CH.&nbsp;In piglets fed CH<em>-</em>based diets, the interplay observed between IgG increase and IgM decrease contributed for piglets&rsquo; survival during weaning.&nbsp;<em>n</em>-6 PUFA were lower in piglets fed CH with or without feed enzymes and the inverse occurred for&nbsp;<em>n</em>-3 PUFA, thus benefiting&nbsp;<em>n</em>-6/<em>n</em>-3 ratio in the liver. The discriminant analysis applied to hepatic variables revealed a good separation between control and CH-based diets but failed to discriminate feed enzymes addition. Minor variations were promoted by Rovabio or the pre-selected enzymatic mixture, thus suggesting some improvement on microalga nutrients digestibility. Taken together, our findings indicate a health promoting effect of CH as feed ingredient in piglets&rsquo; nutrition during the weaning period, without negatively impacting on animals&rsquo; performance.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>