Hypocholesterolemic, Antioxidative, and Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Dietary <i>Spirulina platensisis</i> Supplementation on Laying Hens Exposed to Cyclic Heat Stress

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the role of dietary Spirulina platensis (SP) supplementation in relieving the negative impacts of heat stress (HS) on the productive performance, cholesterol profile, redox status, and inflammatory cytokines of laying hens. A total of 288, 45-wk-old and 1550.7 ± 2.3 g initial body weight, HY-Line W-36 laying hens were housed in two environmental-controlled compartments. Layers were allotted to eight treatments of a two × four factorial design, with six replicates containing six birds per treatment. The temperature in one of the compartments was kept at a thermoneutral condition (24 °C group), while the temperature in the other compartment was raised to a cyclic heat stress of 35 °C from 9:00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. (35 °C group). Layers in each compartment were fed on one of four experimental diets, containing 0%, 3%, 6%, or 9% SP (SP groups). The trial continued for five weeks. As a result of this study, exposure of laying hens to cyclic HS resulted in a significant (p p p p p < 0.05). Therefore, diets containing 9% SP could be used as a promising approach to improve the productive and physiological performance of laying hens, particularly under heat stress conditions.

Keywords

• cholesterol profile
• heat stress
• inflammatory cytokines
• laying hens
• productive performance
• redox status