Effects of Dietary Hemp Seed and Flaxseed on Growth Performance, Meat Fatty Acid Compositions, Liver Tocopherol Concentration and Bone Strength of Cockerels

Effects of hempseed (Cannabis sativa L.) in diet on growth, gut health, and immunity in broilers

The aim of the present study was to assess the effects of different levels of hempseed (HS) on growth performance, immunity and gut health in broiler chickens. A total of 192 Hubbard broiler chicks were divided into four groups and fed HS as follow: control (HS0), HS 10% (HS-10), HS 15% (HS-15) and HS 20% (HS-20). The study on HS supplementation in broilers revealed no significant impacts on feed intake during the starter (p = .2294) and finisher phases (p = .2294), or overall (p = .0944), though numerical increases were noted with higher HS levels. Body weight gain showed no significant influence in the starter and finisher phases, with overall weight gain also not significantly different (p = .0944), but numerically higher with increased HS. Feed conversion ratio was unaffected in the starter (p = .6986) and finisher phases (p = .6425), and overall (p = .2218). Dressing percentage (p = .1062) and mortality (p = .1631) were not significantly altered, but HS-20 had the highest dressing percentage and lowest mortality numerically. White blood cell counts increased significantly (p = .0377), especially in HS-15 and HS-20 groups. IgM and IgG production was higher in HS-20 on day 28 (p = .021). Gut pH (p > .05) and intestinal histomorphology (p > .05) were not significantly affected, although villus height increased numerically with higher HS levels. These results suggest potential benefits of HS, especially at higher inclusion levels. In conclusion, the obtained results indicated that HS incorporation into the diet of broilers did not affect the growth performance and gut health; however, the immune responses were significantly higher at 15 and 20% levels.

Effects of different lipid sources on performance, blood lipid parameters, immune system activity, and expression of TNFα and TLR4 genes in broiler chickens

This study aimed to explore the effects of different lipid sources on the performance, blood lipid parameters, immune system activity, and the expression of TNFα and TLR4 genes in broiler chickens. A total of 500 one-day-old male chicks of the ROSS 308 commercial strain were allocated into four treatment groups with five replicates each (each replicate comprised of 25 chickens), following a randomized design. The treatments were as follows: (1) a diet incorporating palm oil (PO, a source of saturated fatty acids); (2) a diet incorporating flaxseed oil (FO, a source of omega-3); (3) a diet incorporating soybean oil (SO, a source of omega-6); and (4) a diet incorporating olive oil (OO, a source of omega-9). According to the findings, the broiler chickens exhibited a significant increase in body weight gain (BWG) throughout the study when their diet consisted of unsaturated oils, as opposed to a diet including PO. Conversely, the feed conversion ratio (FCR) significantly decreased (P<0.01). The treatment with FO resulted in the highest percentage of lymphocytes and antibody titers against Newcastle and Gumboro diseases, showing a significant difference compared to the treatment with PO (P<0.01). Moreover, the relative expression of TNFα and TLR4 genes was the lowest following the FO treatment, indicating a significant decrease compared to the treatment with PO. Overall, the present findings demonstrated that incorporating omega-3 fatty acids into the diet was more effective in enhancing the growth performance, immune system, and health of broiler chickens.

Review: Nutritional aspects of hemp-based products and their effects on health and performance of monogastric animals

Sustainable agriculture aims to produce food and feed that ensure food security and play a key role in environmental protection. For this, producers, supported by scientific research, are investigating new protein alternatives for animals that guarantee high performance and preserve their health. Among these, hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is gaining great success, both for its active role in environmental conservation and for the high nutritional profile of the seeds (20-30% carbohydrates, 25-30% proteins easy to digest and rich in essential amino acids, and 25-35% lipids with a balanced fatty acid composition), also ensured by the co-products, particularly seed cakes (30-34% proteins and 10-12% lipids). However, the last scientific report by the European Food Safety Authority for the use of hemp-based products in the feed sector now dates back to 2011. For this reason, the objective of this review, in addition to outlining the nutritional profile of hempseeds (HSs) and co-products, aims to investigate their use in the monogastric sector, particularly in the diets of pigs, broilers, and laying hens, by summarising the main works in the literature up to 2023, investigating the effects on animal health and performances. The reported results showed that the addition of 50 g/kg of HSs and HS oil improved the nutritional profile of milk and colostrum in lactating sows, particularly the lipid profile, positively affecting the health of piglets. For broilers, the inclusion of HSs (20 g/kg) resulted in better values on growth performance. This was not matched by the addition of HS oil (up to 60 g/kg). In particular, although a better polyunsaturated fatty acid profile was observed, the results on growth performance were contradictory. The same trend was observed for HSs cakes with 50, 150, and 200 g/kg inclusion. For laying hens, the inclusion of HSs (up to 250 g/kg), HS oil (up to 300 g/kg), and HSs cake (up to 150 g/kg) increased the nutritional and functional profile of the eggs, safeguarding performance and animal welfare. However, despite the promising results, the function of hemp-based products in the diet of monogastric animals needs to be further investigated to identify the optimal level of inclusion and timing of administration, necessary to ensure high performance and health of the animals.

Chemical Characterization of 29 Industrial Hempseed (Cannabis sativa L.) Varieties

Hemp is considered one of the potential novel crops for human and animal nutrition. This study aimed to determine the complete chemical composition of 29 different varieties of whole hempseeds. Fatty acid composition, amino acid profile, mineral composition, and cannabinoids content were also evaluated. All hempseed varieties were milled to obtain whole hempseed flour. Differences between hempseed varieties were significant (p < 0.05) for all measured parameters. Proximate composition results showed that crude protein and fat contents varied from 21.6-28.9% and 21.1-35.7%, respectively. Fatty acid profiles revealed that the three major fatty acids were linoleic acid (52.79-57.13%) followed by α-linolenic acid (12.62-20.24%), and oleic acid (11.08-17.81%). All essential amino acids were detected in all varieties, with arginine (12.66-17.56 mg/100 g protein) present in abundance, whereas lysine was limiting. Substantial differences were found in the mineral content, and potassium (509.96-1182.65 mg/100 g) and iron (5.06-32.37 mg/100 mg) were the main macro- and microminerals found. All cannabinoids were found in small traces and tetrahydrocannabidiol (THC) was only detected in five varieties. To conclude, the nutritional composition of hempseeds with hull makes them suitable to be added into the diets of humans or animals as a highly beneficial novel ingredient.

A Comprehensive Exploration of the Fatty Acids Profile, Cholesterol, and Tocopherols Levels in Liver from Laying Hens Fed Diets Containing Nonindustrial Hemp Seed

This study investigates the impact of dietary nonindustrial Moroccan hemp seed (HS) on the fatty acid profile, cholesterol, and tocopherol levels, in the liver of 120 Lohmann brown laying hens aged 22 weeks during 12 weeks of treatment. The hens are randomly allocated into four treatment groups, each subdivided into six replicates with five birds in each replicate. The dietary treatments consist of 0% HS (control), 10% HS, 20% HS, and 30% HS. Results indicate a substantial increase (p < 0.01) in polyunsaturated fatty acids, including omega 3 (n-3) and omega 6 (n-6) types, with the inclusion of HS in the diet. The n-6/n-3 ratio is significantly reduced (p < 0.01), and there is a significant reduction (p < 0.01) in saturated fatty acids only for the 30% HS treatment, indicating a more favorable fatty acid composition. Cholesterol levels remain largely unaffected by HS inclusion, except for the 10% HS group, which shows a significant decrease (p < 0.05). Moreover, hepatic tocopherol levels are significantly elevated (p < 0.01) in subjects receiving the HS diet, with the 30% HS group exhibiting the highest tocopherol content. In summary, incorporating HS into the diet up to 30% appears to offer promising benefits for hepatic lipid composition, particularly in terms of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, the n-6/n-3 ratio, and tocopherol levels, while having minimal impact on cholesterol levels.

Effects of Dietary Hempseed or Camelina Cakes on Fatty Acid Composition of Quail Meat

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of dietary hempseed or camelina cakes on the fatty acid profiles of intramuscular fat in quail. A total of 189 one-day-old quail were allocated to three dietary treatment groups. The diet of the control (C) group was supplemented with 10% rapeseed cake, whereas the rapeseed in experimental 1 (HE) and experimental 2 (CA) groups was replaced by, respectively, hempseed cake and camelina cake in the same proportions. The length of the study was 42 days. Dietary enrichment with camelina cake increased the α-linolenic fatty acid (ALA) content in the meat of CA group 2.5 times (p < 0.01). The muscle tissues of CA contained 3.4-3 times more eicosapentaenoic acid (p < 0.01), 1.2 times more docosapentaenoic acid (p < 0.05-p < 0.01) and 1.3 times more docosahexaenoic acid (p < 0.01) and, thus, demonstrated the increase in total long chain (LC) n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (p < 0.01) and total n-3 PUFA (p < 0.01) compared with the C group. The ALA and total n-3 PUFA content in the breast and leg meat of HE-treated quail were, respectively, 1.3 and 1.1 times higher (p < 0.01) than in the C group but the accumulation was lower compared to the CA group. The content of γ-linolenic acid was found to be 1.21-1.31 times higher in HE quail meat (p < 0.01). However, hempseed cake supplementation had a negative effect on growth performance. The supplementation of quail feed with camelina or hempseed cakes resulted in the production of healthy meat with an increased n-3 PUFA content.

Potential of dietary hemp and cannabinoids to modulate immune response to enhance health and performance in animals: opportunities and challenges

Cannabinoids are a group of bioactive compounds abundantly present in Cannabis sativa plant. The active components of cannabis with therapeutic potential are known as cannabinoids. Cannabinoids are divided into three groups: plant-derived cannabinoids (phytocannabinoids), endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids), and synthetic cannabinoids. These compounds play a crucial role in the regulation various physiological processes including the immune modulation by interacting with the endocannabinoid system (A complex cell-signaling system). Cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1) stimulates the binding of orexigenic peptides and inhibits the attachment of anorexigenic proteins to hypothalamic neurons in mammals, increasing food intake. Digestibility is unaffected by the presence of any cannabinoids in hemp stubble. Endogenous cannabinoids are also important for the peripheral control of lipid processing in adipose tissue, in addition to their role in the hypothalamus regulation of food intake. Regardless of the kind of synaptic connection or the length of the transmission, endocannabinoids play a crucial role in inhibiting synaptic transmission through a number of mechanisms. Cannabidiol (CBD) mainly influences redox equilibrium through intrinsic mechanisms. Useful effects of cannabinoids in animals have been mentioned e.g., for disorders of the cardiovascular system, pain treatment, disorders of the respiratory system or metabolic disorders. Dietary supplementation of cannabinoids has shown positive effects on health, growth and production performance of small and large animals. Animal fed diet supplemented with hemp seeds (180 g/day) or hemp seed cake (143 g/kg DM) had achieved batter performance without any detrimental effects. But the higher level of hemp or cannabinoid supplementation suppress immune functions and reduce productive performance. With an emphasis on the poultry and ruminants, this review aims to highlight the properties of cannabinoids and their derivatives as well as their significance as a potential feed additive in their diets to improve the immune status and health performance of animals.

Hemp seed (Cannabis sativa L.) cake as sustainable dietary additive in slow-growing broilers: effects on performance, meat quality, oxidative stability and gut health

Hemp seed cake (HSC) (Cannabis sativa L.) is a rich source of polyunsaturated fatty acids, high-quality proteins and essential amino acids. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion of HSC on growth performance, meat quality traits, fatty acids profile and oxidative status, and intestinal morphology in slow-growing broilers. A total of 180 male slow-growing broilers were randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatments containing different levels of HSC: 0 (HSC0), 5 (HSC5) or 10% (HSC10). Birds were slaughtered at 49 days of age: breast and thigh muscles were analysed and duodenum mucosa histomorphological features were evaluated. Regardless the level of HSC inclusion, no differences among groups were found for performance and meat quality traits. The thigh and breast fatty acid profile were significantly improved in both HSC groups, with an increase of the long chain fatty acids of n-3 series and decrease of n-6/n-3 ratio. The HSC diets lowered the MDA concentration and lipid hydroperoxides in breast meat. Histomorphometrical analysis revealed a significant increase in villus height, surface area and villus/crypt ratio, with a decrease of crypt depth, suggesting that dietary supplementation with HSC may boost intestinal health status in poultry. In conclusion, dietary HSC did not affect performance, carcass traits and meat quality, while it positively influenced the lipid profile of meat, and improved the oxidative status and gut health, thus representing a valuable and sustainable alternative ingredient in broiler diet.

Effects of hemp seed and flaxseed on enzyme activity in the broiler chicken digestive tract

The activity of enzymes in the digestive tract is an important parameter for appropriate digestive tract function. Feed mixtures can be adjusted to support enzymatic activity in different parts of the digestive tract. Flaxseed and hemp seed are commodities and significant sources of nutrition, and their addition to feed could change enzymatic activity in the digestive tract and improve nutritional intake. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of flaxseed, hemp seed and a combination of both on basic enzymes in the polysaccharidase group, such as amylase, cellulase, pectinase, xylanase and inulinase; basic enzymes in the disaccharidase group, including maltase, invertase and lactase; proteinases and lipases in the digestive tract of broiler chickens. During the experiment, the control group was fed a diet without flaxseed or hemp seed. The diet of the second group contained 80 g/kg flaxseed, the diet of the third group contained 40 g/kg hemp seed, and the diets of the fourth to sixth groups contained 80 and 30 g/kg, 80 and 40 g/kg and 80 and 50 g/kg flaxseed and hemp seed, respectively. Enzyme activity was found to depend on the location in the digestive tract and the composition of the feed mixture (P < 0.05). Most enzymatic conversion occurs in the ileum, where the addition of flaxseed and hemp seed to the diet increased most enzyme activities, namely, amylase, cellulase, pectinase, xylanase, maltase, invertase, proteinase and lipase activities. The highest values of enzyme activity were found in groups IV-VI fed a combination of flaxseed and hempseed, especially in chickens fed diet VI (flaxseed and hemp seed at 80 and 50 g/kg). Growth performance results confirmed the enzyme activity results, as the weights of the chickens increased after the addition of flaxseed and/or hemp seed. The findings have economic implications, suggesting that feeding a diet with a combination of flaxseed and hemp seed is beneficial.

Impact of Cannabis Seed Incorporation in Layer Diet on Productive Performance and Egg Quality Traits

The production of nonindustrial cannabis is highly developed in the Moroccan Rif region; however, local farmers consider hemp seeds which are rich in omega 3 and tocopherols, only as by-products of cannabis cultivation with low market value. The local ecotype is considered to be a plant with a cannabinoid content of more than 0.4%. So, the objective of this research is to investigate how the incorporation of this local hemp seed affects productive performance and egg quality traits. The experiment is conducted to evaluate the effects of hemp seed (HS) incorporation on hen laying performance and physical egg quality at three levels: 10% (HS-10% group), 20% (HS-20% group), and 30% (HS-30% group). Ninety-six Lohmann Brown classic laying hens were randomly assigned to a control group and three feed treatments. The sampling was taken after the 28-week rearing period (peak egg laying). Throughout the experiment, low-rate HS inclusion (HS-10%) showed no significant differences in egg-laying performance (p > 0.05). However, the high incorporation rates of HS (20% and 30%) negatively affected the egg-laying performance (84-94% and 80-86%, respectively). The albumen quality was also improved by the HS inclusion, where the highest values of the Haugh unit were recorded, ranging between 68.69 and 73.91 for the HS-30% groups. The results also show that HS inclusion and duration influence significantly the yolk color (p < 0.001). The yellow intensity decreases with HS incorporation and aging, from a dark yellow (b ^∗  = 38.63 for the control group) to a very pale yellow (b ^∗  = 26.29 for HS 30% group). Based on these findings, we can conclude that the incorporation of nonindustrial Moroccan cannabis seeds (ecotype Beldiya) at low rate in the diet of laying hens does not alter the laying performance or the quality of the egg; therefore, they could be used in poultry feeding as an alternative constituent to partially replace high-cost imported ingredients, such as corn and soybeans.

Hemp: A Sustainable Plant with High Industrial Value in Food Processing

In the era of SDGs, useful plants which provide valuable industrial outputs and at the same time pose less impact on the environment should be explored. Hemp seems one of the most relevant gluten-free crop plants to meet such requirements. Its high nutritional value is comparable to soy. Moreover, almost the whole body of the hemp plant has a wide array of utility: industrial production of food, fiber, and construction materials. In view of environmental sustainability, hemp requires less pesticides or water in cultivation compared to cotton, a representative fiber plant. This short review investigates hemp's sustainability as a plant as well as its utility value as a highly nutritional material in the food industry. Recent application research of hemp protein in food processing includes plant milk, emulsifiers, fortification of gluten-free bread, plant-based meat production, as well as membrane formation. These studies have revealed distinctive properties of hemp protein, especially in relation to disulfide (S-S)/sulfhydryl (-SH)-mediated interactions with protein from other sources. While its cultivation area and industrial use were limited for a while over confusion with marijuana, the market for industrial hemp is growing rapidly because it has been highly reevaluated in multiple areas of industry. Conclusively, with its sustainability as a plant as well as its distinctive useful property of the seed protein, hemp has promising value in the development of new foods.

Cannabidiol and Nano-Selenium Increase Microvascularization and Reduce Degenerative Changes in Superficial Breast Muscle in C. perfringens-Infected Chickens

Here, we demonstrated the potential of Cannabis-derived cannabidiol (CBD) and nanosized selenium (nano-Se) for the modulation of microvascularization and muscle fiber lesions in superficial breast muscle in C. perfringens-challenged chickens. The administration of CBD resulted in a decreased number of atrophic fibers (3.13 vs. 1.13/1.5 mm²) compared with the control, whereas nano-Se or both substances resulted in a decreased split fiber number (4.13 vs. 1.55/1.5 mm²) and in a lower number of necrotic myofibers (2.38 vs. 0.69/1.5 mm²) in breast muscle than the positive control. There was a significantly higher number of capillary vessels in chickens in the CBD+Nano-Se group than in the control and positive control groups (1.31 vs. 0.97 and 0.98, respectively). Feeding birds experimental diets lowered the activity of DNA damage repair enzymes, including 3,N4-ethenodeoxycytosine (by 39.6%), 1,N6-ethenodeoxyadenosine (by 37.5%), 8-oxo-guanine (by 36.2%), formamidopyrimidine (fapy)-DNA glycosylase (by 56.2%) and human alkyl adenine DNA glycosylase (by 40.2%) in the ileal mucosa, but it did not compromise the blood mitochondrial oxygen consumption rate (-2.67 OD/min on average). These findings indicate a potential link between gut mucosa condition and histopathological changes in superficial pectoral muscle under induced inflammation and show the ameliorative effect of CBD and nano-Se in this cross-talk due to their protection from mucosal DNA damage.

A High-Precision Method for 100-Day-Old Classification of Chickens in Edge Computing Scenarios Based on Federated Computing

Due to the booming development of computer vision technology and artificial intelligence algorithms, it has become more feasible to implement artificial rearing of animals in real production scenarios. Improving the accuracy of day-age detection of chickens is one of the examples and is of great importance for chicken rearing. This paper focuses on the problem of classifying the age of chickens within 100 days. Due to the huge amount of data and the different computing power of different devices in practical application scenarios, it is important to maximize the computing power of edge computing devices without sacrificing accuracy. This paper proposes a high-precision federated learning-based model that can be applied to edge computing scenarios. In order to accommodate different computing power in different scenarios, this paper proposes a dual-ended adaptive federated learning framework; in order to adapt to low computing power scenarios, this paper performs lightweighting operations on the mainstream model; and in order to verify the effectiveness of the model, this paper conducts a number of targeted experiments. Compared with AlexNet, VGG, ResNet and GoogLeNet, this model improves the classification accuracy to 96.1%, which is 14.4% better than the baseline model and improves the Recall and Precision by 14.8% and 14.2%, respectively. In addition, by lightening the network, our methods reduce the inference latency and transmission latency by 24.4 ms and 10.5 ms, respectively. Finally, this model is deployed in a real-world application and an application is developed based on the wechat SDK.

Cannabidiol affects breast meat volatile compounds in chickens subjected to different infection models

No study has demonstrated the use of dietary Cannabis-derived cannabidiol (CBD) to alter the stress response in chickens or examined its effects on meat volatile compounds (VOCs). Here, we subjected chickens to dysbiosis via C. perfringens infection or Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment and investigated the potential link between meat VOCs and cecal bacterial activity and the ameliorative effect of CBD. The cecal bacterial production of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) was closely correlated with meat VOCs. CBD supplementation reduced the formation of breast meat spoilage VOCs, including alcohols, trimethylamine and pentanoic acid, in the challenged birds, partly by decreasing cecal putrefactive SCFA production. Meat VOC/cecal SCFA relationships differed according to the challenge, and CBD attenuated the effects of C. perfringens infection better than the effects of LPS challenge on meat VOCs. These findings provide new insights into the interactions among bioactive agent supplementation, gut microbiota activity and meat properties in birds.

Effect of Dietary Hemp Cake Inclusion on the In Vivo and Post Mortem Performances of Holstein Veal Calves

Fifty-two male Holstein veal calves were divided into two homogeneous groups receiving two isoenergetic and isonitrogenous concentrates without (CTR group) or with 3% of hemp cake (HC group). The trial lasted for 171 days. All the calves were weighed five times during the trial. At slaughtering, carcasses were weighed and measured. Meat quality was determined on the Longissimus dorsi muscle. Average daily gain in the first period of the experiment (0-80 d) and dressing percentage and rump width of the carcasses were higher in HC group. Cooking weight losses and shear force were higher in the meat of the HC group while color parameters were similar in the two experimental groups. Unexpectedly, the alpha-linolenic acid content of meat was lower in the HC group. In conclusion, hemp cake can be considered an interesting ingredient in the concentrate used for the production of veal calves, but further studies will be needed to determine a suitable dosage in order to improve the nutritional quality of meat (i.e., the n-3 fatty acids content) without negative effects on physical characteristics.

Hemp in Animal Diets—Cannabidiol

In recent years, interest in hemp use has grown owing to its chemical and medicinal properties. Several parts of this plant, such as seeds, leaves, flowers, and stems are used in medicine, industry, and environmental preservation. Although there were legal restrictions on hemp exploitation in some countries due to the trace presence of THC as a psychoactive element, many countries have legalized it in recent years. Cannabidiol or CBD is a non-psychoactive phytocannabinoid that can activate the endocannabinoid system and its receptors in the central and peripheral nervous system in bodies of different species. Cannabidiol has anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, analgesic, and anti-depressant effects. This review investigates various aspects of cannabidiol use and its potential in animals and humans.

A High-Performance Day-Age Classification and Detection Model for Chick Based on Attention Encoder and Convolutional Neural Network

Thanks to the boom of computer vision techniques and artificial intelligence algorithms, it is more available to achieve artificial rearing for animals in real production scenarios. Improving the accuracy of chicken day-age detection is one of the instances, which is of great importance for chicken rearing. To solve this problem, we proposed an attention encoder structure to extract chicken image features, trying to improve the detection accuracy. To cope with the imbalance of the dataset, various data enhancement schemes such as Cutout, CutMix, and MixUp were proposed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed attention encoder. This paper put the structure into various mainstream CNN networks for comparison and multiple ablation experiments. The final experimental results show that by applying the attention encoder structure, ResNet-50 can improve the accuracy of chicken age detection to 95.2%. Finally, this paper also designed a complete image acquisition system for chicken houses and a detection application configured for mobile devices.

Synergy of Dietary Quercetin and Vitamin E Improves Cecal Microbiota and Its Metabolite Profile in Aged Breeder Hens

In the present study, the synergistic effects of quercetin (Q) and vitamin E (E) on cecal microbiota composition and function, as well as the microbial metabolic profile in aged breeder hens were investigated. A total of 400 (65 weeks old) Tianfu breeder hens were randomly allotted to four experimental groups (four replicates per group). The birds were fed diets containing quercetin at 0.4 g/kg, vitamin E (0.2 g/kg), quercetin and vitamin E (QE; 0.4 g/kg and 0.2 g/kg), and a basal diet for a period of 10 wks. After the 10 week experimental period, the cecal contents of 8 aged breeder hens per group were sampled aseptically and subjected to high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing and untargeted metabolomic analysis. The results showed that the relative abundances of phyla Bacteroidota, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteriota were the most prominent among all the dietary groups. Compared to the control group, the relative abundance of the families Bifidobacteriaceae, Lachnospiraceae, Tannerellaceae, Mathonobacteriaceae, Barnesiellaceae, and Prevotellaceae were enriched in the QE group; and Bacteroidaceae, Desulfovibrionaceae, Peptotostretococcaceae, and Fusobacteriaceae were enriched in the Q group, whereas those of Lactobacillaceae, Veillonellaceae, Ruminococcaceae, Akkermansiaceae, and Rikenellaceae were enriched in the E group compared to the control group. Untargeted metabolomics analyses revealed that Q, E, and QE modified the abundance of several metabolites in prominent pathways including ubiquinone and other terpenoid–quinone biosynthesis, regulation of actin cytoskeleton, insulin secretion, pancreatic secretion, nicotine addiction, and metabolism of xenobiotics by cytochrome P450. Furthermore, key cecal microbiota, significantly correlated with important metabolites, for example, (S)-equol positively correlated with Alistipes and Chlamydia in E_vs_C, and negatively correlated with Olsenella, Paraprevotella, and Mucispirillum but, a contrary trend was observed with Parabacteroides in QE_vs_C. This study establishes that the synergy of quercetin and vitamin E alters the cecal microbial composition and metabolite profile in aged breeder hens, which lays a foundation for chicken improvement programs.

A Meta-Analysis on the Significance of Dietary Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Bone Development and Quality in Egg- and Meat-Type Chickens

Poultry egg and meat production continue to be optimized for productivity and efficiency. However, genetic selection focusing on production efficiency has overlooked other aspects critical to bird wellbeing, such as skeletal development. As a result, modern birds are more prone to leg weakness, osteoporosis, and, subsequently, fractures. Dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) enrichment has been proposed to benefit bone development, quality, and strength. However, there is a lack of conclusive and quantitative results across studies. Therefore, a meta-analysis approach was used to evaluate published studies to determine the effects of dietary n-3 PUFA enrichment on bone quality in laying- and meat-type birds. Publications were retrieved from multiple sources (databases and hand searching), and ten studies were selected for inclusion in the final dataset. A model to predict tibial bone ash content (BAC) was developed in Proc MIXED of SAS, treating the study as a random effect. The dietary concentration of n-3 PUFA, n-3 PUFA:n-6 PUFA ratio, calcium (Ca), phosphorus and feeding duration (days) were used as independent variables to predict BAC. The final model included the dietary n-6:n-3 FA ratio and the calcium concentration in the diet. The final model was selected based on the corrected Akaike Information Criteria, the root mean square prediction error (0.999) and its components, and the concordance correlation coefficient (CCC) (0.99). In laying-type birds, BAC was reduced by n-3 PUFA (p = 0.001) but was increased by Ca (p = 0.014). In contrast, in broiler chickens, BAC was increased by n-3 PUFA (p = 0.001) and decreased by Ca (p = 0.014). The influence of n-3 PUFA:n-6 PUFA ratio on tibia BAC in laying-type birds was not statistically significant (p = 0.505), whereas in meat-type birds, the influence of PUFA ratio was significant (p &lt; 0.05). These results may indicate a low biological significance in laying-type birds but not in meat-type birds.

The Impact of Hempseed Consumption on Bone Parameters and Body Composition in Growing Female C57BL/6 Mice

Optimizing peak bone mass is critical to healthy aging. Beyond the established roles of dietary minerals and protein on bone integrity, fatty acids and polyphenols modify bone structure. This study investigated the effect of a diet containing hempseeds (HS), which are rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and polyphenols, on bone mineral density, bone cell populations and body composition. Groups (n = 8 each) of female C57BL/6 mice were fed one of three diets (15% HS by weight; 5% HS; 0% HS (control)) from age 5 to 30 weeks. In vivo whole-body composition and bone mineral density and content were measured every 4 weeks using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Ex vivo humeri cell populations in the epiphyseal plate region were determined by sectioning the bone longitudinally, mounting the sections on slides and staining with tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase stain to identify osteoclasts and osteoblasts, respectively. Mixed models with repeated measures across experimental weeks showed that neither body weight nor body weight gain across weeks differed among groups yet mice fed the 15% HS diet consumed significantly more food and more kilocalories per g body weight gained than those fed the 5% HS and control diets (p < 0.0001). Across weeks, fat mass was significantly higher in the 5% HS versus the control group (p = 0.02). At the end point, whole-body bone mineral content was significantly higher in the control compared to the 5% HS group (p = 0.02). Humeri from both HS groups displayed significantly lower osteoblast densities compared to the control group (p < 0.0001). No relationship was seen between osteoblast density and body composition measurements. These data invite closer examination of bone cell activity and microarchitecture to determine the effect of habitual HS consumption on bone integrity.

The Milk Thistle Seed Cakes and Hempseed Cakes are Potential Feed for Poultry

The aims of this work were to summarize the nutritional value of the milk thistle seed cakes and hempseed cakes and describe the influence on selected performance parameters, metabolism and animal health from inclusion of these non-traditional feeds into diets. It seems more appropriate to apply the extract of the bioactive substances complex to the livestock diets than addition of expellers or other forms of plants processing. The seed expellers, etc. mostly worsened the chickens' performance parameters with higher doses in diets, while most of the work using the extract yields had positive results on animal performance.

Hemp in Veterinary Medicine: From Feed to Drug

Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is an angiosperm plant belonging to the Cannabaceae family. Its cultivation dates back to centuries. It has always been cultivated due to the possibility of exploiting almost all the parts of the plant: paper, fabrics, ropes, bio-compounds with excellent insulating capacity, fuel, biodegradable plastic, antibacterial detergents, and food products, such as flour, oils, seeds, herbal teas, and beer, are indeed obtained from hemp. Hemp flowers have also always been used for their curative effects, as well as for recreational purposes due to their psychotropic effects. Cannabis contains almost 500 chemical compounds, such as phytocannabinoids, terpenes, flavonoids, amino acids, fatty acids, vitamins, and macro-, and micro-elements, among others. When utilized as a food source, hemp shows excellent nutritional and health-promoting (nutraceutical) properties, mainly due to the high content in polyunsaturated fatty acids (especially those belonging to the ω-3 series), as well as in phenolic compounds, which seem effective in the prevention of common diseases such as gastrointestinal disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and others. Moreover, hemp oil and other oils (i.e., olive oil and medium-chain triglyceride–MCT–oil) enriched in CBD, as well as extracts from hemp dried flowers (Cannabis extracts), are authorized in some countries for therapeutic purposes as a second-choice approach (when conventional therapies have failed) for a certain number of clinical conditions such as pain and inflammation, epilepsy, anxiety disorders, nausea, emesis, and anorexia, among others. The present review will synthetize the beneficial properties of hemp and hemp derivatives in animal nutrition and therapeutics.