Effect of replacing protein source of soybean meal with hempseed meal in post molting diets of laying hens

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of replacing soybean meal with hempseed meal in diet on performance, egg quality and blood parameters in laying hens. A total of 200 Hy-line 102 wks laying hens were randomly allotted to 25 cages in 5 dietary treatments with 5 replicates (8 birds each replicate). This experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 5 treatments involved different ratio of soybean meal to hempseed meal protein source including 1) ratio of 100: 0 protein of soybean meal to hempseed meal (control); 2) ratio of 75: 25 protein of soybean meal to hempseed meal; 3) ratio of 50: 50 protein of soybean meal to hempseed meal; 4) ratio of 25: 75 protein of soybean meal to hempseed meal; and 5) ratio of 0: 100 protein of soybean meal to hempseed meal. Egg production, egg mean weight and feed intake in the birds fed diet contained ratio of 0: 100 protein of soybean meal to hempseed meal were higher than control diet (P