Effect of short-term nutritional supplementation of green microalgae on some reproductive indicators of Anglo-Nubian crossbred goats

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Despite the wide spectrum of uses, one of the chief drawbacks to expanding microalgae as a food supplement in livestock is the lack of a regimen protocol with established dosage and time length of supplementation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of short-term supplementation with increasing doses of microalgae on ovarian response in goats reared in northeast Brazil. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight goats had their follicular waves synchronized using three injections of a prostaglandin analog at 7-day intervals. Goats were allocated to groups that received daily oral Chlorella supplementation for 7 days, respectively: 5 g, GMA5 group (n = 7), 10 g (GMA10; n = 7), and 20 g (GMA20; n = 7). The control group (GMA 0; n = 7) received a drench of water. RESULTS: The groups showed a quadratic increase (p = 0.0156) in kidney fat thickness but there was a significant reduction in dry matter intake in the GMA20 group. The GMA20 group showed higher glucose levels and glutathione peroxidase (p < 0.05). There was a decrease in plasma cholesterol (p < 0.05) in the 10 and 20 g treatments. The number of total follicles increased quadratically. Follicles <3 mm increased linearly (p = 0.0113) for microalgal supply. The GMA10 and GMA20 groups had the highest values (p < 0.05) among the treatments. After inducing ovulation, there was a significant increase in follicles >3 mm in the GMA10 group, which also showed a greater (p < 0.05) area of intraovarian blood perfusion and pulsatility index of the ovarian artery. CONCLUSION: We conclude that for 7 days of supplementation, the administration of 10 g of microalgae appears to be the most efficient dosage for stimulating the ovarian response in tropical goats.