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

Comparison of performance, digestibility of nutrients and quality of meat in four breeds of broiler rabbits

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Role of choline and methionine in bovine mammary epithelial cell line exposed to hydrogen peroxide

Choline and methionine are essential nutrients for many mammals. In this work we aimed to evaluate the role of choline and methionine in counteracting the oxidative stress induced by hydrogen peroxide in bovine mammary epithelial cells. BME-UV1 cell line has been previously used as in vitro model for mammary epithelium. First of all, BME-UV1 were exposed to increasing concentrations of hydrogen peroxide to establish half lethal concentrations at 24, 48 and 72 hours. Furthermore, BME-UV1 cells were incubated with increasing amounts of choline and methionine in order to identify the most effective concentrations in term of cell viability. In this respect, two combinations of choline and methionine have been selected: a Low Choline/Methionine dosage and a High Choline/Methionine dosage, providing respectively to 500 M/715 M and 1000 M/1430 M of choline and methionine. After that, BME-UV1 treated with Low Choline/Methionine dosage and High Choline/Methionine dosage were exposed to selected concentrations of hydrogen peroxide for the following 24, 48 and 72 hours. After 48 h and 72 h of treatments BME-UV1 viability was significantly (P < 0.05) enhanced on average by 21% and 25.8% at the lowest range of hydrogen peroxide concentrations tested. At the highest concentrations of hydrogen peroxide used only a slightly increasing of BME-UV1 viability has been observed. After 24 h of incubation, choline and methionine treatments did not significantly influenced cell viability. Our results indicate that choline and methionine could play a role in counteracting oxidative damage induced by hydrogen peroxide in bovine mammary epithelial cells, even though the correct mechanism needs further investigations

Intact brown seaweed (Ascophyllum nodosum) in diets of weaned piglets: effects on performance, gut bacteria and histo-morphology and plasma oxidative status

The aim was to assess the effects of intact dried Ascophyllum nodosum seaweed on piglet performances, gut bacteria and function and plasma oxidative status. A total of 160 weaned piglets (21 days, 6.59 +/- 0.91 kg) were allocated to four dietary treatments with eight pen replicates of five animals each for 28 days: a control diet; based on cereals, soybean meal and milk products, and three basal diets supplemented with either 2.5, 5.0 or 10.0 g dried seaweed per kg. At day 12/13 one piglet from each pen was sacrificed. Plasma samples were taken to determine parameters of oxidative status. Digesta were sampled for microbiological plate countings onto selective media and molecular analysis using PCR-DGGE. Small intestinal tissue was taken for morphological and electro-physiological determinations. Data were analysed by a linear model with treatment as fixed effect. A. nodosum supplementation had no effect on daily weight gain, nor did it alter feed conversion ratio. Plate countings failed to reveal differences among treatments. Dendograms prepared using PCR-DGGE banding patterns did not indicate clustering of microbial profiles based on diet supplement. Plasma oxidative status and outcome of morphology and of electro-physiological measurements from gut tissues were similar for all treatments. Thus, the addition of A. nodosum seaweed to well digestible diets did not enhance performances of piglets nor some gut health parameters and plasma oxidative status