Milk Replacer Supplementation with Docosahexaenoic Acid from Microalgae Does Not Affect Growth and Immune Status in Goat Kids.

Isabel Moreno-Indias,Anastasio Argüello,Davinia Sánchez-Macías,Antonio Morales-Delanuez,Lorenzo E Hernández-Castellano,Noemí Castro,Alexandr Torres

doi:10.3390/ani10071233

Abstract

Simple SummaryThe consumption of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) has beneficial effects on human health. Meat from suckling goat kids is highly valuable, especially in Mediterranean countries. Based on this, several strategies have been implemented to increase the content of DHA in foodstuffs such as meat and meat products. Several studies have observed how feeding diverse sources of DHA can improve the fatty acid profile in goat kid meat. However, few studies have focused on the effect of using these DHA supplements on growth and the immune system development in these animals. Consequently, this study aimed to evaluate the effect of different levels of DHA supplementation on growth and the immune system development in newborn goat kids. The current study showed that the DHA supplementation did not affect either growth or the immune status of goat kids during the first 35 days of life.Consumption of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), has beneficial effects for consumers’ health. Consequently, there is an increased interest in enhancing meat fatty acid profiles (i.e., PUFA and DHA content) through diverse nutritional strategies. This study aimed to investigate the effect of supplementing a microalgae-derived product rich in DHA on growth and immune system development in newborn goat kids. In this experiment, newborn goat kids were fed milk replacer (MR) supplemented with three levels of a microalgae-derived product rich in DHA (DHA-Gold®, Martek Biosciences, MD, USA). Groups were designed as follows: MR-NS (milk replacer without DHA-Gold® supplementation; n = 10), MR-DHA-9 (9 g of DHA-Gold®/L milk replacer; n = 10) and MR-DHA-18 (18 g of DHA-Gold®/L milk replacer; n = 10). The immune status of the kids was evaluated by the plasma IgG and IgM concentrations, as well as by the complement system and chitotriosidase activities. Dietary supplementation with DHA did not affect either growth or innate and humoral immunity (p > 0.05). This study concludes that supplementation with DHA does not cause negative effects on growth and immune status in newborn goat kids.

Highlights

Marine microalgae are rich in long-chain (C chain ≥ 20) n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22: 6n3) [1]
The average individual microalgae-DHA intake was 2.29 ± 0.28 and 4.62 ± 0.46 g/day in animals from the milk replacer (MR)-DHA-9 and MR-DHA-18 groups, respectively
No differences in body weight (BW) were detected between groups (3.25 ± 0.25, 3.00 ± 0.28 and 2.88 ± 0.29 kg in MR-NS, MR-DHA-9 and MR-DHA-18 groups, respectively; p > 0.05; data are expressed as LS-means ± SD)

Summary

Introduction

Marine microalgae are rich in long-chain (C chain ≥ 20) n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), especially docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; C22: 6n3) [1]. Due to the limited consumption of fish and the almost zero utilization of microalgae in western societies, most of the PUFA intake is derived from meat and egg consumption [3]. There is greater interest in producing meat and meat products with an optimal ratio between saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids and PUFA [4], which would contribute to meeting the dietary recommendations of omega-3 fatty acids [1]. With the aim of producing meat enriched in n-3 PUFA, different types of fat have been introduced into the diet formulation for goats [9]

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