Effects of heat-treated hempseed supplementation on performance, egg quality, sensory evaluation and antioxidant activity of laying hens

The Seed of Industrial Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.): Nutritional Quality and Potential Functionality for Human Health and Nutrition

“…Instead, Goldberg and colleagues [ 159 ] demonstrated that the inclusion of up to 20% hempseed or up to 10% hempseed oil in the poultry’s diet did not have any adverse effects on the eggs’ sensory quality. Similar results were obtained by Konca and co-workers [ 155 ] for eggs produced by hens supplemented with 15% raw or heat-treated whole hempseeds for 12 weeks.…”

“…Overall, these studies demonstrated that the performance of laying hens and broiling chickens, including feed intake, egg weight, egg production, feed conversion ratio, body weight, or weight gain, was not affected [ 150 , 151 , 152 , 153 ] or was ameliorated [ 154 ] by the dietary supplementation with hempseeds (up to 30%) or hempseed oil (up to 12%), and therefore, these products can be included in the bird’s diet without compromising their safety and efficacy. Interestingly, the hens’ performance was more positive if hempseeds were subjected to a heat treatment (specifically 120 °C for 60 min) performed before to supplement the hens’ diet [ 155 ]. The safety of the inclusion of these supplementary products to poultry diet was further confirmed by the absence of the markers of hepatic and muscular damage after the hempseed product supplementation [ 151 , 154 ].…”

“…Regarding MUFAs and SFAs, literature publications agree that the MUFAs content, mainly OA, decreased with the increase of the level of the hempseed products to the diet, probably due to the inhibition effect of a PUFAs-rich diet on the activity of ∆-9 desaturase, which is essential for the conversion of PA to OA [ 150 , 153 , 155 , 157 ]. Whereas, about the effect on SFAs there are some contrasting results.…”

“…Whereas, about the effect on SFAs there are some contrasting results. Some authors found a reduction in the SFAs [ 155 , 158 ], as well as in the cholesterol amount [ 161 ] in egg yolk after hempseed supplementation. Other researchers [ 153 , 157 ] showed that the overall levels of SFAs and cholesterol of egg yolk were not influenced by a dietary treatment with hempseeds, hempseed oil, or hempseed cake.…”

Whole blood transcriptome analysis in ewes fed with hemp seed supplemented diet

“…In agreement with these studies, also using HS oil as a dietary supplement, it was possible to modify the goat milk’s fatty acid quality with a higher ratio of PUFAs on SFAs without affecting liver function 14 . HS supplementation has been used also in broiler and laying hens for assessing affects on meat and egg quality respectively 15,16 . Importantly, in broilers, HS did not affect negatively growth performance but positively influenced the serum lipid profile showing a decrease of triglyceride, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and total cholesterol.…”