CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Microalgae are microscopic, typically found in soil, marshes, freshwater, brackish water, seawater and thermal springs, living in both the water Colum and sediment. They are unicellular species which exist individually, or in chains or groups. Depending on the species, their sizes can range from a few micrometers (µm) to a few hundred micrometers. Unlike higher plants, microalgae do not have roots, stems, or leaves. They are specially adapted to an environment dominated by viscous forces. Algae are typically classified as green, brown and red algae. Some microalgae which are used as poultry feed include Athrospira maxima, Chlorella vulgaris, Athrospira platensis, Porphridium cruentum, Schizochytrium sp, Hizikia fusiforme, Undaria sp, Gracilaria sp, kappapaphycus sp Laminaria sp. The increasing demand for human protein food sources has resulted in a need for new feed materials which provide a safe source of nutrients for poultry and livestock. Several feeding experiments have demonstrated that microalgae of different species can be successfully included into poultry diets, for example as a defatted biomass byproduct from biofuel production, and can have a beneficial influence on birds’ health, performance, and the quality of meat and eggs. Especially important for the poultry industry are recent studies where microalgae biomass was efficiently used in the production of eggs containing health-promoting lipids, i.e. eggs enriched with health promoting long-chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFAs n-3).
The traditional method of enriching eggs with LCPUFAs n-3 is to incorporate linseed or fish oil
into the layer diet; however, this latter method is limited by the high demand for marine products and the risk of their contamination with heavy metals (Wu et al., 2012).
The identification of new feed resources is therefore crucial for sustainable animal production and future viability. Ideally, the new feed resource should have high nutritive value and conversion efficiency, be able to optimize animal product quality and use land and water efficiently (Poppi and McLennan, 2010). Consequently, chlorella vuigaris is emerging as a potential candidate to meet these criteria.
1.1 AIM
- To isolate and identify microalgae used in poultry farming.
1.2 OBJECTIVES
- To identify microalgae used in poultry farming
- To grow algae used in poultry farming
- To harvest microalgae used in poultry farming.
