Effects of Moringa Oleifera Leaves Silage and Chlorella Vulgaris on Growth Performance, Blood Metabolites, and Ruminal Fermentation in Growing Kids

Ahmed E. Kholif; Tarek A. Morsy; Amgad A. Abu Elella; Qing Zhang; Hatem A. Hamdon; Einar Vargas-Bello-Pérez

doi:10.2478/aoas-2025-0061

Effects of Moringa Oleifera Leaves Silage and Chlorella Vulgaris on Growth Performance, Blood Metabolites, and Ruminal Fermentation in Growing Kids

Annals of Animal Science

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 1 (January 2026)

By: Ahmed E. Kholif, Tarek A. Morsy, Amgad A. Abu Elella, Qing Zhang, Hatem A. Hamdon and Einar Vargas-Bello-Pérez

Open Access

|Jan 2026

Figures & Tables

The planting and preparation process of *Moringa oleifera* leaves for silage production

Cultivated *Chlorella vulgaris* microalgae

Table 1.

Ingredients (g/kg DM) and chemical composition (g/kg DM) of total mixed rations fed to the growing Damascus goats

	Ingredient				Diet¹
	rice straw	CFM²	M. oleifera leaves silage³	C. vulgaris microalgae	control	MA20	MA40
Ingredient
Rice straw					300	300	300
CFM²					700	552	414
M. oleifera leaves silage³					0	138	276
C. vulgaris microalgae					0	10	10
Chemical composition
Dry matter	943	838	391	932	870	809	747
Organic matter	849	891	862	942	878	875	871
Crude protein	43	162	282	579	126	147	164
Ether extract	19	42	45	139	35	36	37
Non-fibrous carbohydrates	159	421	190	106	342	307	275
Neutral detergent fiber	628	266	345	118	375	384	395
Acid detergent fiber	397	99	299	43	188	215	243

1 Diets: Concentrate mixture in the control diet was replaced with Chlorella vulgaris microalgae (at 1%) + Moringa oleifera leaves silage mixture at 0% (Control diet), 20% (MA20 diet) or 40% (MA40 diet), DM basis. Chlorella vulgaris microalgae were incorporated at a concentration of 1% in the M20 and M40 treatments, while Moringa oleifera leaves silage was included at two different levels to replace equivalent amounts of concentrates.

2 Concentrate feed mixture (CFM) contained per kg DM: 250 g un-decorticated cotton seed meal, 350 g wheat bran, 300 g maize, 30 g rice bran, 30 g molasses, 20 g limestone, 10 g urea and 10 g salt.

3 M. oleifera leaves silage measurements: pH = 4.2, ammonia-N = 51 g/kg of total N, volatile fatty acids = 88 g/kg DM, aflatoxin B₁ = 1.1 μg/kg of DM, total phenolics = 49 g/kg DM, and tannins = 19 g/kg DM.

Table 2.

Growth performance and feed efficiency of Damascus kids fed diets containing Moringa oleifera and Chlorella vulgaris microalgae

	Diets¹			SEM	P-value
	control	MA20	MA40	SEM	diet	period	control vs. others	linear	quadratic
Initial body weight (kg)	24.6	24.2	24.2	0.80	0.308	<0.001	0.125	0.184	0.442
Final body weight (kg)	43.6 b	45.6 a	46.6 a	0.71	0.018	<0.001	0.036	0.011	0.401
Weight gain (kg)	19.0 c	21.4 b	22.4 a	0.192	0.027	0.020	0.012	0.012	0.672
Average daily gain (ADG; g/d)	158 c	178 b	187 a	7.7	0.027	0.020	0.012	0.012	0.672
Feed efficiency (ADG/intake)	0.16 c	0.18 b	0.19 a	0.016	0.032	0.001	0.016	0.013	0.811

a, b, c – means in the same row with different letters differ at P<0.05. P-value is the observed significance level of the F-test for treatment; SEM, standard error of the mean.

1 Diets: Concentrate mixture in the control diet was replaced with Chlorella vulgaris microalgae (at 1%) + Moringa oleifera leaves silage at 0% (Control diet), 20% (MA20 diet) or 40% (MA40 diet), DM basis. Chlorella vulgaris microalgae were incorporated at a concentration of 1% in the M20 and M40 treatments, while Moringa oleifera leaves silage was included at two different levels to replace equivalent amounts of concentrates.

Weekly changes in body weight among growing Damascus kids fed diets containing *Moringa oleifera* and *Chlorella vulgaris* microalgae. Diets: Concentrate mixture in the control diet was replaced with *Chlorella vulgaris* microalgae (at 1%) and *Moringa oleifera* leaves silage at 0% (Control diet), 20% (MA20 diet) or 40% (MA40 diet), DM basis. *Chlorella vulgaris* microalgae were incorporated at a concentration of 1% in the M20 and M40 treatments, while *Moringa oleifera* leaves silage was included at two different levels to replace equivalent amounts of concentrates

Table 3.

Intake (g/d) of diets containing a mixture of both Moringa oleifera leaves silage and Chlorella vulgaris microalgae fed to growing Damascus kids

	Diets¹			SEM	P-value
	control	MA20	MA40	SEM	diet	period	control vs. others	linear	quadratic
Concentrate	673 a	567 b	395 c	3.6	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
M. oleifera leaves silage mixture	0.0 c	139 b	256 a	2.5	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001	0.001
Rice straw	287	301	308	13.9	0.151	0.441	0.178	0.145	0.118
Total DM intake	960	1007	959	3.8	0.651	0.537	0.601	0.977	<0.001

a, b, c – means in the same row with different letters differ at P<0.05. P-value is the observed significance level of the F-test for treatment; SEM, standard error of the mean.

1 Diets: Concentrate mixture in the control diet was replaced with Chlorella vulgaris microalgae (at 1%) and Moringa oleifera leaves silage at 0% (Control diet), 20% (MA20 diet) or 40% (MA40 diet), DM basis. Chlorella vulgaris microalgae were incorporated at a concentration of 1% in the M20 and M40 treatments, while Moringa oleifera leaves silage was included at two different levels to replace equivalent amounts of concentrates.

Table 4.

Nutrients digestibility of diets containing Moringa oleifera and Chlorella vulgaris microalgae fed to growing Damascus kids

	Diets¹			SEM	P-value
	control	MA20	MA40	SEM	diet	period	control vs. others	linear	quadratic
Dry matter	588 b	639 a	642 a	6.9	<0.001	0.013	<0.001	<0.001	0.073
Organic matter	594 b	647 a	648 a	8.0	<0.001	0.667	<0.001	<0.001	0.051
Crude protein	583 b	641 a	642 a	7.7	<0.001	0.183	<0.001	<0.001	0.074
Ether extract	598 b	647 a	649 a	8.2	<0.001	0.208	<0.001	<0.001	0.055
Non-fibrous carbohydrates	608 b	654 a	645 a	9.5	0.003	0.679	0.001	0.008	0.071
Neutral detergent fiber	554 b	591 a	610 a	9.6	0.001	0.378	0.001	0.001	0.447
Acid detergent fiber	540 b	576 a	581 a	6.9	0.001	0.361	<0.001	0.001	0.068
TDN (g/kg DM)²	53.7 b	57.5 a	57.7 a	0.50	<0.001	0.981	<0.001	<0.001	0.064
DE (Mcal/kg DM)²	2.37 b	2.54 a	2.55 a	0.022	<0.001	0.981	<0.001	<0.001	0.085
ME (Mcal/kg DM)²	2.39 b	2.56 a	2.57 a	0.022	<0.001	0.980	<0.001	<0.001	0.055
UFL (Mcal/kg DM)³	2.10 b	2.27 a	2.28 a	0.021	<0.001	0.981	<0.001	<0.001	0.055

a, b – means in the same row with different letters differ at P<0.05. P-value is the observed significance level of the F-test for treatment; SEM, standard error of the mean.

2 TDN = total digestible nutrients, DE = Digestible energy, ME = Metabolizable energy. All values have been calculated according to the NRC (2001) equation.

3 The UFL (unité fourragère lait), which represents the net energy requirements for lactation equivalent to 1 kg of standard air-dry barley, has been determined based on the equation provided by INRA (2018).

Table 5.

Ruminal fermentation parameters of growing Damascus kids fed diets containing Moringa oleifera and Chlorella vulgaris microalgae

	Diets¹			SEM	P-value
	control	MA20	MA40	SEM	diet	period	control vs. others	linear	quadratic
pH	6.14 b	6.69 a	6.76 a	0.042	<0.001	0.076	<0.001	<0.001	<0.001
Ammonia N (mg/dL)	35.4 a	32.9 b	31.4 b	0.80	0.004	0.531	0.002	0.001	0.620
Total volatile fatty acids (mmol/L)	126 b	136 a	139 a	3.2	0.019	0.030	0.006	0.008	0.343
Acetate (mmol/L)	73.2 b	79.3 a	80.2 a	1.76	0.015	0.024	0.004	0.008	0.234
Propionate (mmol/L)	31.2 b	33.6 a	34.4 a	0.84	0.024	0.126	0.008	0.009	0.456
Butyrate (mmol/L)	21.8 b	23.4 a	24.2 a	0.50	0.023	0.011	0.018	0.035	0.750
Acetate: propionate ratio	2.35	2.37	2.33	0.040	0.810	0.709	0.966	0.719	0.592
Bacteria (× 10⁸)	10.0 b	11.8 a	12.4 a	0.35	0.028	0.044	0.013	0.028	0.755
Protozoa (× 10⁵)	4.68 a	4.17 b	4.06 b	0.251	0.018	0.048	0.023	0.026	0.525

a, b – means in the same row with different letters differ at P<0.05. P-value is the observed significance level of the F-test for treatment; SEM, standard error of the mean.

Table 6.

Blood serum parameters of growing Damascus kids fed diets containing Moringa oleifera and Chlorella vulgaris microalgae

	Diet¹			SEM	P-value
	control	MA20	MA40	SEM	diet	period	control vs. others	linear	quadratic
Total proteins (g/dL)	7.74	8.01	8.04	0.091	0.055	0.181	0.015	0.026	0.298
Albumin (g/dL)	4.16 b	4.55 a	4.56 a	0.052	<0.001	0.904	<0.001	<0.001	0.004
Globulin (g/dL)	3.58	3.45	3.48	0.099	0.637	0.262	0.355	0.479	0.530
Albumin: globulin ratio	1.18 b	1.34 a	1.31 a	0.044	0.036	0.425	0.011	0.044	0.095
Urea-N (mg/dL)	36.4 a	33.3 b	33.7 b	0.58	0.011	0.276	0.028	0.015	0.103
Glucose (mg/dL)	64.9	68.2	68.8	1.69	0.220	0.274	0.087	0.106	0.524
ALT (U/L)	17.7	17.7	17.7	0.33	0.999	0.134	0.972	0.990	0.962
AST (U/L)	33.8	32.3	32.2	0.73	0.252	0.127	0.099	0.142	0.440
Triglycerides (mg/dL)	173	176	178	2.4	0.254	0.529	0.141	0.101	0.925
High-density lipoprotein (mmol/L)	86.4	86.2	87.6	1.71	0.837	0.536	0.824	0.640	0.714
Low-density lipoprotein (mL/dL)	68.3	70.0	69.5	0.92	0.445	0.009	0.226	0.386	0.353
Antioxidant capacity	111 b	121 a	124 a	3.047	0.008	0.002	0.003	0.003	0.413
Nonesterified fatty acids (mmol/L)	0.88 a	0.77 b	0.78 b	0.012	0.028	0.798	0.031	0.017	0.819
β-hydroxybutyric acid (mg/dL)	1.83 a	1.51 b	1.52 b	0.031	0.040	0.595	0.038	0.041	0.851

a, b – means in the same row with different letters differ at P<0.05. P-value is the observed significance level of the F-test for treatment; SEM, standard error of the mean.

References

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/aoas-2025-0061 | Journal eISSN: 2300-8733 (formerly 1642-3402) | Journal ISSN: 1642-3402

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Language: English

Page range: 347 - 357

Submitted on: Nov 14, 2024

Accepted on: May 21, 2025

Published on: Jan 30, 2026

Published by: National Research Institute of Animal Production

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Publication frequency: 4 issues per year

Keywords:

Moringa oleifera,

Chlorella vulgaris,

growth performance,

nutrient utilization,

ruminal fermentation

Related subjects:

Medicine,

Veterinary medicine

© 2026 Ahmed E. Kholif, Tarek A. Morsy, Amgad A. Abu Elella, Qing Zhang, Hatem A. Hamdon, Einar Vargas-Bello-Pérez, published by National Research Institute of Animal Production
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Volume 26 (2026): Issue 1 (January 2026)

Effects of Moringa Oleifera Leaves Silage and Chlorella Vulgaris on Growth Performance, Blood Metabolites, and Ruminal Fermentation in Growing Kids

Figures & Tables

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Table 1.

Table 2.

Figure 3.

Table 3.

Table 4.

Table 5.

Table 6.

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