Addition Of Spirulina Research Articles

Sensory, Physico-Chemical and Water Sorption Properties of Corn Extrudates Enriched with Spirulina

This study compares the quality of extrudates made from corn grits with the addition of up to 8% of spirulina powder. The sensory properties (shape, color, aroma, taste and crispness), chemicals (content of water, protein, fat, ash, fiber, carbohydrates, carotenoids, chlorophyll and phycocyanin) and physical properties (color, water absorption index, expansion indices, texture and water sorption properties) were determined. It has been found that spirulina-enriched extrudates had slightly lower sensory scores, but the addition of spirulina improved their nutritional value. The contents of protein, ash, fiber and β-carotene increased in extrudates with 8% of spirulina by 34, 36, 140 and 1,260%, respectively. The increasing addition of spirulina caused a decrease in extrudates lightness, an increase in their greenness and yellowness accompanied by a decrease of expansion indices and an increase of softness. Only small differences were found in water sorption properties, suggesting a similar behavior of spirulina-enriched extrudates during storage.

EVALUATION OF SPIRULINA ALGAE (SPIRULINA PLATENSIS) AS A FEED SUPPLEMENT FOR JAPANESE QUAIL: NUTIRITIONAL EFFECTS ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, EGG PRODUCTION, EGG QUALITY, BLOOD METABOLITES, SPERM-EGG PENETRATION AND FERTILITY

This study aimed to evaluate the nutritional impacts of Spirulina platensis supplementation in the feed and drinking water of the Japanese quail during the growing and laying periods. One-hundred-twenty Japanese quails (14 days old) were housed in twelve battery cages, which were randomly corresponded to three treatments: a basal mash diet (BMD) (control group), a BMD plus 1% Spirulina platensis, and a BMD plus 0.25% of Spirulina in the drinking water. The growth performance was evaluated between the 2nd and 6th week of age, then the egg production parameters and fertility rates were investigated during the following seven weeks. The Spirulina powder used in this study had 95.40% dry matter, 54.70% crude protein, 2.58% ether extract, and 1.58% crude fiber. During the growing period, the results showed that the birds provided with Spirulina powder at 1% in the feed (T1) and at 0.25% in the drinking water (T2) had higher (P<0.05) body weight (BW) and body weight gain (BWG) values than those of the control group. The total FI of T1 was higher (P<0.05) than those of the control and T2 (505.1 vs. 515.6 and 504.9 g). Besides, both of Spirulina treatments had better feed conversion ratios than that of the control group (3.3 and 3.3 versus 3.6 feed: gain). During the laying period, the Spirulina supplementation in feed or in water did not show significant (P≥0.05) effects on the egg laying rate, egg weight, daily egg mass, feed intake, feed conversion (g feed: g egg) as compared with the control group. Finally, the birds supplemented with Spirulina treatments had lesser serum cholesterol and free fatty acid levels, and displayed higher fertility values (P<0.05) than that of the control group. In conclusion, the addition of Spirulina to the feed and/ or to the drinking water of the Japanese quail had beneficial effects on growth performance and fertility, while it did not show any significant (P≥0.05) impact on the egg production, egg quality, or dressing percentage.

Development of powdered food with the addition of Spirulina for food supplementation of the elderly population

Abstract The elderly are prone to developing nutritional deficiencies of vitamins, minerals, and proteins as well as energy. The addition of Spirulina biomass to food is of interest because of the microalga's nutritional content. Therefore, this study sought to develop chocolate flavor shake-type powdered food, enriched with Spirulina. The chemical composition of the products was analyzed, and they were subjected to sensory testing and shelf life estimation. Food developed presented a mean 42% (w·w− 1) protein and 46% (w·w− 1) carbohydrates content. The average acceptance rates were 7.68 and 7.77, for shakes with and without Spirulina, respectively. The shelf life was estimated at 19 months for the product with incorporated biomass and 24 months for product without Spirulina. Sensory analysis showed that the addition of Spirulina in foods was well accepted by the target public. Products with added microalgal biomass can provide energy and protein and can contribute to the elderly population's nutritional requirements. Industrial relevance The preparation of food products for specific population groups pose major challenges for the food industry. These processes involve large investments in research, but tend to generate competitive advantages for the investing companies. One of the groups that deserve special attention are the elderly, who may present a number of specific nutritional deficiencies that must be supplied by diet. Within this scenario, the enrichment products for seniors with Spirulina becomes very interesting, because it makes food a source of protein and carbohydrates, as well as providing a number of dietary bioactive compounds, essential fatty acids and vitamins.

Efficacy ofSpirulinaas Hepatoprotectant: A Review

Spirulina is in the vanguard of emerging nutritional supplements which have myriad of therapeutic benefits due to its rich macro-and micronutrient diversity. This makes Spirulina an ideal candidate in myriad organ disorder including metabolic disorder and metabolic disturbance. One of the niche areas for its applied role has been in liver disorders and hepatic toxicity. Hypolipidemic and hypocholesterolemic effects of Spirulina play a crucial role in mitigating nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Various animal and human studies have further shown that use of Spirulina has supportive role in hepatic injury induced by well known hepatic toxins like carbon tetrachloride, drugs like paracetamol, antitubercular drugs and chemotherapeutic agents like cisplatin. Addition of Spirulina in the therapeutic management of chronic liver infection due to hepatitis C infection has an incremental benefit in lowering the raised liver enzymes. Anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and membranestabilizing properties of Spirulina are believed to be effective in chronic liver disease. Data from human clinical trials and animal studies have shown that Spirulina is safe for human consumption though few adverse effects reported in literature are possibly due to its contamination during culturing and extraction.

Role of chlorophyll in Spirulina on photocatalytic activity of CO2 reduction under visible light over modified N-doped TiO2 photocatalysts

The combination of TiO2 nanoparticles and chlorophyll molecules is promising to provide potential new composite materials for improving photocatalytic CO2 reduction by merging the ability and features of both material types. In this research, the visible light reactive N-doped TiO2 (N–TiO2) catalysts were synthesized using a simple sol–gel method, and chlorophyll in Spirulina was consequently loaded onto the N-doped TiO2 catalysts (Sp/N–TiO2) in an attempt to enhance the photocatalytic efficiency. The effects of nitrogen and chlorophyll in Spirulina, and their loading amount on CO2 photoreduction with water under visible light of Sp/N–TiO2 catalysts were investigated. The activities of catalysts were in the order undoped TiO2<N–TiO2<Sp/N–TiO2. The addition of Spirulina was found to significantly improve the photocatalytic stability and C2+ (C2H4 and C2H6) product selectivity. The 0.5Sp/10N–TiO2 catalyst exhibited approximately 21.3 times and 1.9 times higher total production yield compared with undoped TiO2 and 10N–TiO2, respectively. This outstanding photocatalytic activity could be attributed to the enhancement in visible light harvesting, the surface oxygen vacancies (VO) facilitating reactants adsorption and dissociation, and the synergistic effect between N–TiO2 and chlorophyll in Spirulina.

Effects of spirulina biomass on the technological and nutritional quality of bread wheat pasta

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the incorporation of spirulina on technological and nutritional quality of dried pasta. Wheat flour was substituted by spirulina biomass at three levels: 5, 10 and 20 g/100 g, and a sample without spirulina biomass was made as control. The technological quality was analyzed in terms of cooking properties and texture profile, while pasta surface was observed by confocal microscopy. In addition, protein content, in vitro protein digestibility, phenolic compound content and in vitro antioxidant activity were the major bio-functional characteristics measured. An in vitro starch digestion was performed in order to estimate the glycemic index. Only pasta with 20 g of spirulina / 100 g of flour did slightly modify technological quality parameters; microstructure studies revealed the impact of spirulina addition, resulting in a more heterogeneous surface. The glycemic index was not affected by the addition of spirulina. The incorporation of spirulina resulted in an increase of protein content; however, protein digestibility was reduced as microalgae content increased. Pasta with spirulina exhibited high phenolic compounds content and antioxidant activity compared to control pasta, which could be used to enhance the nutritional profile of the product.

Optimization of a process for high fibre and high protein biscuit.

Biscuits are popular and convenient food products due to their ready to eat nature. Biscuits were prepared from sorghum and whole wheat flour with the addition of spirulina (Spirulina platensis) powder to produce high fibre and high protein biscuit. Levels of ingredients in biscuits such as spirulina powder, sorghum flour and guar gum were optimized using response surface methodology (RSM) for its sensory, textural and antioxidant attributes. Sensory attributes as colour intensity (R2 = 0.89, P < 0.0001), flavor (R2 = 0.98, P < 0.0001), sweetness (R2 = 0.97, P < 0.0001), graininess (R2 = 0.99, P < 0.0001), and crispiness (R2 = 0.94, P < 0.0001), textural attributes as hardness (R2 = 0.95, P < 0.0001) and fracturability (R2 = 0.96, P < 0.0001), antioxidant activity as DPPH inhibition (R2 = 0.87, P < 0.0001) and antioxidant activity as ABTS inhibition (R2 = 0.98, P < 0.0001) were significantly related to processing parameters of biscuit. Rheological characteristics (TPA and extensograph) of biscuit dough were measured. Studies indicated that amongst all the processing parameters, the composition of spirulina powder and sorghum flour was found to have significant effect on the responses.

Pão sem glúten enriquecido com a microalga Spirulina platensis

With the objective of offering a product for people with celiac disease, due to their gluten intolerance, gluten-free bread made with rice flour was elaborated, in substitution of the wheat flour. To increase the protein content of the bread, dried Spirulina platensis, a microalga, was added to the products in the range from 2 to 5% (flour basis). The bread samples were evaluated according to their specific volume (V/W), crumb hardness, measured with a texturometer, and the crumb color. It was shown that the specific volume and crumb hardness were not affected by the addition of up to 4% of alga, but a decrease of 22% in the volume and an increase of 113% in crumb hardness of the bread were noted with the addition of 5%. The addition of Spirulina resulted in products with improved nutritional quality, with a significant increase of 39.04% in the protein content as well as of some essential amino acids (threonine, methionine, isoleucine and leucine), when compared to bread without the addition of the alga. With respect to color, the bread with Spirulina showed a decrease in luminosity with increase in the addition of the alga and a displacement of the hue angle towards a green color. With respect to the sensory evaluation, no significant difference was found between the bread with 3 and 5% of Spirulina in the formulation.

Co-liquefaction of microalgae and synthetic polymer mixture in sub- and supercritical ethanol

Co-liquefaction of microalgae ( Spirulina) and synthetic polymer (HDPE, high-density polyethylene) in sub- and supercritical ethanol was investigated in a stainless steel autoclave (1000 mL) at different reaction temperatures ( T), Spirulina/HDPE ratio ( R 1), ( Spirulina + HDPE)/ethanol ratio ( R 2) and solvent filling ratio ( R 3). Results showed that the addition of Spirulina to HDPE liquefaction could make the conversion conditions of HDPE milder. The yield of bio-oil obtained at 613 K with a 1/10 R 2 and a 2/10 R 3 was increased by 44.81 wt.% when the R 1 was raised from 0/10 to 4/6. Meanwhile, the synergetic effects ( SE) between HDPE and Spirulina were increased from 0 to 30.39 wt.%. Further increasing R 1 resulted in a decrease in SE. The yields of bio-oil increased with increasing R 2 firstly and then declined. An opposite trend was observed for the yield of residue. The effect of R 3 to the yields of liquefaction products was similar to that of R 2. The content of C and H in bio-oils reduced with increasing R 1, while the content of O increased. The bio-oil from pure Spirulina liquefaction runs mainly consisted of oxygen-containing compounds, such as carboxylic acids, esters and ketones. But the major components of bio-oil from co-liquefaction of Spirulina and HDPE mixture were similar to those of pure HDPE-derived bio-oil, in which aliphatic hydrocarbons dominated.

스피루리나 첨가 식빵의 저장기간 중 품질 특성 및 항산화능의 변화

The purpose of this study was to develop functional breads added with spirulina, improvement of Quality Characteristics and for long-term storage of spirulina bread. Three different levels of spirulina (0.4, 0.8, 1.2 %) were added to the total amount of ingredient. The weight of spirulina containing bread decreased with spirulina level. During storage, moisture content was higher in spirulina containing breads compared with control bread. During storage, contents of phycocyanin increased with increasing spirulina powder. There was Hunter color value(, and value) lightness of the crumb of bread with increasing spirulina powder was decreased during storage. Textural properties by TPA showed that hardness was increased during storage, but the hardness of spirulina bread decreased as spirulina addition amount increased. Also, springiness was decreased during storage. The antioxidant activities was decreased with increasing spirulina powder content. Sensory results showed that the scores of over-all preference buy in the bread with spirulina 0.8 % higher than the control and the other groups.

Microalgae biomass interaction in biopolymer gelled systems

Microalgae are an enormous biological resource, representing one of the most promising sources for the development of new food products and applications. Pea protein/κ-carrageenan/starch gels, interesting vegetarian alternatives to dairy desserts, served as model systems to study the addition of microalgal biomass, its effect, and subsequent rheological behaviour. Spirulina and Haematococcus gels presented a markedly different rheological behaviour compared to the control mixed biopolymer gelled system. The present goal is to clarify how these microalgae affect the gelation and interact with each biopolymer present in the complex mixed gel system. Hence, the aim of the present work is to study the effect of Spirulina and Haematococcus microalgal biomass addition on the rheological behaviour of pea protein, κ-carrageenan and starch simple gels, as well as in pea protein/κ-carrageenan and pea protein/starch systems. The gelation process was monitored in-situ through dynamic oscillatory measurements (temperature, time and frequency sweep tests) for a 24 h maturation period, and rheological results were supported with fluorescence optical microscopy observations. The addition of Spirulina and Haematococcus to biopolymer gelled systems induced significant changes in the gels’ rheological behaviour and microstructure. In general, it was observed that the gelling mechanism is ruled by the biopolymers, while microalgae seem to be embedded in the gel network acting as active particle fillers. The addition of Haematococcus resulted in more structured gels in comparison to the control and Spirulina systems. In the case of κ-carrageenan gels, both microalgae induced a large increase in the rheological parameters, which should be related to the high ionic content of microalgal biomass. Spirulina addition on starch systems promoted a decrease in the gels’ rheological parameters. This should be related to the starch gelatinization process, probably by competing for water binding zones during the granules’ hydration process.

Effect of the spirulina platensis included in the main diet on the boar sperm quality

Microalgae Spirulina platensis accumulates many chemical components which are suitable for all higher organisms as food and forage raw material. There are a lot of vitally important for the organisms minerals and macroelements such as iron, calcium, sodium, potassium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium, vitamins, carotin, nucleic acids, enzymes and other active substances. That should explain the value of Spirulina as a feed additive for the agricultural animals. In the present work the influence of the microalgae Spirulina platensis on the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of boars' sperm was studied. The experiment was carried out with 6 boars from Danube white breed in the experimental animal base of the Agricultural Institute - Shumen. The time of the experiment was divided in the control and experimental periods. During the control period the animals received the main diet in accordance with Bulgarian state standard BDS- 1642-96. In the experimental period to the main diet was added 7 ml/ per head the fresh biomass of microalgae preserved by melasa (final quantity - 1,4 mg Spirulina platensis). The obtained results shown that the addition of Spirulina improves the sperm parameters in boars: the volume of the ejaculates increased with 30 ml in experimental period (306 ml against 276 in control, P&lt;0,05) as well as the spermatozoa concentration enhanced with 27 mln/ml. The total dehydrogenases activities estimated by reaction with methylene blue as well as LDH activity were higher in the experimental period. Also the survivability of the spermatozoids at 24, 48 and 72 hour in the experimental period was more than in control.

Spirulina platensis effects on the levels of total cholesterol, HDL and triacylglycerols in rabbits fed with a hypercholesterolemic diet

In this work, hypercholesterolemia was induced in rabbits by feeding them a high cholesterol diet (CD, 350 mg/d) and the effects of supplementing this diet with 0.5 g/d Spirulina platensis was evaluated by measuring the levels of serum total-cholesterol (TC), triacylglycerols (TAG) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL-cholesterol) at the start of the experiment and after 30 d and 60 d. It was found that the levels of serum cholesterol decreased from 1,054±101 mg.dL-1 in the rabbits fed a CD without S. platensis to 516±163 mg.dL-1 to those fed with a high cholesterol diet supplemented with S. platensis (significant at p &lt;0.0001). The addition of Spirulina to the cholesterolemic diet did not cause significative decrease on the levels of triacylglycerols in the animals. The levels of serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL-cholesterol) was 73±31 mg.dL-1 for rabbits fed a CD without S. platensis as compared to 91.0±15.7 mg.dL-1 in those fed a CD supplemented with S. platensis (significant at p=0.1533).

Growth of the hatchery-produced juveniles of commercial sea cucumber Holothuria (Theelothuria) spinifera Theel

The present study was conducted to develop the hatchery technology for seed production of the widely exploited commercial sea cucumber Holothuria spinifera Theel 1886, to facilitate an effective stock enhancement programme. Broodstock collected by skin divers were used for spawning trials. The embryonic and larval stages were similar to other aspidochirotes. The larval survival rate was 43.5% on day 9, which decreased to 18.3% nearing metamorphosis on day 13, the growth rate was 48 μm day−1 and the settlement rate was 3.5%. Algamac® used to induce settlement also served as the food source for the early settled juveniles, followed by Sargassum spp. extract (<40 μm) for the first month. Sargassum spp. powder along with fine sand (1:1) was given to juveniles >20 mm. Addition of Spirulina spp. along with Sargassum spp. powder and fine sand (0.5:1:2) enhanced the growth rate of the juveniles. In the hatchery, the juveniles attained an average size of 1, 30 and 48 on 20, 80 and 120 days respectively.