%0 Journal Article %9 journal article %J Journal of Animal and Feed Sciences %@ 1230-1388 %V 20 %N 1 %D 2011 %F Skrede2011 %T Evaluation of microalgae as sources of digestible nutrients for monogastric animals %X The study was carried out to evaluate three microalgae as potential nutrient sources in diets for monogastric animals. In a digestibility experiment with adult mink ( Mustela vison ), the microalgae Nannochloropsis oceanica , Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Isochrysis galbana were fed at 60, 120 and 240 g kg -1 as is, replacing fish meal. The N. oceanica and P. tricornutum had similar crude protein (CP) content (47.7 and 49.0% of DM, respectively), amino acid composition and lipid content (8.4 and 7.4%, respectively), whereas I. galbana contained 20.1% CP and 16.2% lipids. There was a significant linear reduction in CP digestibility with increasing dietary inclusion of all algae products. The apparent CP digestibility determined by linear regression for N. oceanica , P. tricornutum and I. galbana was 35.5, 79.9 and 18.8%, respectively. The individual amino acid digestibilities showed acceptable values for P. tricornutum , but low and highly variable values for N. oceanica and I. galbana . Although the algae contributed a minor proportion of dietary lipids, lipid digestibility declined with increasing inclusion of all algae and especially with the highest level of N. oceanica . It was concluded from the mink study that among the investigated algae, P. tricornutum was the preferable source of digestible nutrients. %A Skrede, A. %A Mydland, L. T. %A Ahlstrøm, Ø. %A Reitan, K. I. %A Gislerød, H. R. %A Øverland, M. %P 131-142 %R 10.22358/jafs/66164/2011 %U https://doi.org/10.22358/jafs/66164/2011