The effect of feeding hemp seed meal to laying hens

Abstract

Seed of the hemp cultivar Unika-b was cold-pressed to obtain hemp seed meal (HSM) containing 307 g/kg crude protein and 164 g/kg ether extract (60 g/kg linoleic acid, 120 g/kg alpha-linolenic acid, 160 g/kg oleic acid, lesser amounts of palmitic, stearic, and gamma-linolenic acids). For 4 weeks, 102 43-week-old DeKalb Sigma hens were fed on isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets containing 0, 50, 100 or 200 g/kg HSM. Eggs were collected for fatty acid analysis during the fourth week of feeding these diets. No significant differences were found between feed treatments for egg production, feed consumption, feed efficiency, body weight change or egg quality. Increasing dietary inclusion of HSM produced eggs with lower concentrations of palmitic acid and higher concentrations of linoleic and alpha-linolenic acids.

Improving the fatty acid profile in egg yolk through the use of hempseed (<i>Cannabis sativa</i>), ginger (<i>Zingiber officinale</i>), and turmeric (<i>Curcuma longa</i>) in the diet of Hy-Line White Leghorns

“…Contrary to the potential of industrial hempseed, its use in the poultry diet is not recommended due to a lack of scientific evidence to support nutritional efficacy (Gakhar et al, 2012). Previous reports have shown that the addition of hempseed can potentially generate n-3-enriched eggs (Silversides and Lefrançois, 2005;Gakhar et al, 2012;Neijat et al, 2015). In the present study, the results are encouraging since the profile of fatty acids improved significantly.…”

Dietary sources of unsaturated fatty acids for animals and their transfer into meat, milk and eggs: A review

“…The inclusion of hemp seed at levels up to 14% in the diet had no detrimental effect on growth or feed efficiency of cattle compared to the control diet and as such, Gibb et al (2005) suggested that hemp seed could be a feasible high energy animal feed by-product of the hemp fibre industry. Silversides and Lefrancois (2005) offered hemp seed meal to laying hens and observed that levels up to 200 g/kg had no effect on egg production, feed intake, feed efficiency or body weight. The inclusion of hemp seed meal altered the fatty acid profile of egg yolks, with levels of ALA significantly (P b 0.05) greater than with the control diet (0.2 g/100 g total FA), being 0.5, 0.7 and 1.2 g/100 g total FA for diets containing 50, 100 and 200 g hemp seed meal/kg diet respectively.…”

Cold-pressed hempseed cake as a protein feed for growing cattle

“…Feeding cold-pressed hempseed products as a protein feed instead of soybean meal has resulted in similar production results in poultry and fish (Hullar et al, 1999;Callaway, 2004;Silversides & Lefrançois, 2005). Despite the potential of hempseed in livestock production, only a few studies on hempseed products as a protein feed for ruminants have been undertaken (Mustafa et al, 1999;Gibb et al, 2005).…”