Effect of the dietary addition of Ainuwakame（Alaria praelonga) on immune function and the transfer of functional ingredients to egg yolk in hens

Abstract

It is known that brown algae seaweed includes such functional ingredients as ω-3 fatty acid, and these ingredients are present in Ainuwakame(Alaria Praelonga) which is a kind of brown algae. Feeding Ainuwakame to layer hens is expected to improve immune function and to transfer the functional ingredients of the seaweed to eggs. We fed hens for 30 days on a feed with 5% added desalted and dried Ainuwakame powder.

With respect to the amount of change in chemotaxis by macrophages, the rates in hens that ate the 5% seaweed feed tended to be higher than those in controls (P<0.05). However, we found no differences in the amounts of ω-3 fatty acid, fucosterol, or cholesterol in yolks.

The innate immune response in layer hens was improved by the feed with 5% Ainuwakame powder, but no transfer of functional ingredients to egg yolks was observed.