Effects of Graded Levels of Hemp Seed (Cannabis sativa L.) on Performance, Organ Weight and Serum Cholesterol Levels on Broilers

Hemp seed (HS) has high protein with good quality and more than 90% of its fats are polyunsaturated fatty acids. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of graded levels of HS on performance, organ weight (OW), and serum cholesterol levels on broilers. 192 male broiler chicks (1 d old-ROSS 308) were randomly assigned to a completely randomized design with 4 dietary treatments: control (without HS), 2.5, 5 and 7.5% HS in 4 replications (12 birds/pen). Weight gain (WG), feed intake (FI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were measured and calculated at the end of each wk. At the end of 6th wk, to determine serum lipids (1 bird/pen) and OW (2 birds/pen) were randomly selected. WG on 0 – 21 d (p<0.01) and 0 – 42 d (p<0.05) were significantly affected by HS levels. Increasing dietary HS levels significantly decreased total cholesterol, LDL, VLDL, triglyceride and liver weight relativity percentage (p<0.05) and increased HDL (p<0.01) levels in serum. HS levels had no significant effect on WG 22 – 42 d, FCR, FI and other organs weight relativity percentage (p >0.05). In conclusion highest levels of HS used in this experiment could be apply to reduce serum cholesterol and saturated fatty acids and increasing meat quality to improve human health as target consumer.