Can Hempseed Become a Practical Poultry Feed Ingredient?

Hempseed Improves Chicken Feed Efficiency in New Study

Hemp’s next agricultural opportunity could begin in the feed mill. A new poultry study suggests that ground hempseed can help chickens convert feed into body weight more efficiently, offering another potential market for a crop often associated with cannabinoids, textiles, and construction materials.

Researchers at Tarbiat Modares University in Iran tested hempseed alongside digestive enzymes in 768 broiler chickens. Their study, accepted for publication in Poultry Science and available as a journal pre-proof, found improvements in growth performance and feed conversion under the experimental conditions.¹

The findings support further investigation of hempseed as a feed ingredient. They also point toward a broader business question: can a nutritional advantage become a reliable commercial advantage? For hemp growers, processors, and poultry producers, the answer will depend on ingredient prices, consistent supply, processing choices, and evidence extending beyond this trial.

How Researchers Tested Hempseed in Chicken Feed

The birds received the same starter diet during their first week. From days 8 through 28, researchers assigned them to diets containing 0%, 8%, 16%, or 24% hempseed, either with or without a multicarbohydrase enzyme blend. Each of the eight treatments had eight replicate pens containing 12 birds.

The diets were formulated to provide comparable energy and protein levels. This matters because simply supplying more protein or energy could otherwise help explain better growth. Instead, the experiment examined how differently formulated diets performed when their intended nutritional targets were similar.

The ingredient was ground whole hempseed. It was not hempseed cake left after oil extraction, CBD oil, or spent flower material. Those distinctions are essential when interpreting the results.

MyCannabis previously explored the separate question of whether spent hemp biomass can become chicken feed. Biomass remaining after cannabinoid extraction has a different composition and safety profile, so evidence concerning one hemp material cannot automatically establish the suitability of another.

What the Hempseed Feeding Trial Found

Hempseed inclusion significantly affected final body weight, weight gain, and feed conversion ratio. Feed conversion describes how much feed is required to produce a unit of weight gain. A lower number indicates greater efficiency.

Across diets with and without enzymes, the average feed conversion ratio declined from 1.287 in the hempseed-free group to 1.243 at 24% inclusion. That represents approximately a 3.4% improvement. The 24% group differed significantly from controls, while the intermediate groups were not statistically distinguishable from either endpoint for this measure.

These values are the study’s hempseed-level averages across both enzyme treatments. All three hempseed groups had significantly higher final body weights than the control group. However, the highest numerical body weight occurred at 16% inclusion, while the lowest numerical feed conversion ratio occurred at 24%.

That difference illustrates why the experiment does not establish a single optimal inclusion rate. The best formulation could change depending on whether a producer prioritizes growth, feed efficiency, ingredient availability, or overall production cost.

Digestive Enzymes Helped, but Benefits Varied

The enzyme blend contained xylanase and beta-glucanase, which target certain complex carbohydrates in feed. Averaged across hempseed levels, supplementation improved weight gain and reduced feed conversion ratio from 1.274 to 1.243.

However, researchers detected no significant hempseed-by-enzyme interaction for growth performance. The study therefore does not show that pairing hempseed with enzymes created a special growth benefit beyond their independent effects.

Some nutrient digestibility responses did depend on the combination. For example, enzymes improved gross energy digestibility at 0% and 8% hempseed inclusion, but not at the higher levels. This suggests that enzyme selection and dose should be evaluated within a specific feed formulation rather than treated as a universal upgrade.

Why Better Feed Efficiency Does Not Automatically Mean Cheaper Chicken

The commercial opportunity becomes clearer when feed efficiency is translated into purchasing decisions. A producer benefits financially only if improved performance outweighs any additional expense associated with the new formulation.

Consider an illustrative calculation using the reported feed conversion ratios. Dividing 1.287 by 1.243 gives approximately 1.035. If those ratios were reproduced commercially, the more efficient complete diet could cost roughly 3.5% more per kilogram before its feed cost per kilogram of weight gain matched the control.

This is a calculation based on the trial results, not a profitability finding from the paper. It excludes other costs and assumes comparable outcomes beyond feed conversion. Nevertheless, it shows why even an encouraging biological result needs a disciplined economic assessment.

Whole hempseed also has alternative markets. Selling it into food products or pressing it for oil may offer better returns than selling it directly into feed. Meanwhile, MyCannabis coverage of hemp protein research for biodegradable packaging illustrates another potential destination for seed-processing materials. That application remains experimental, but it reinforces the need to compare uses rather than assume feed is always the best outlet.

Whole Seed and Processing Byproducts Need Separate Evidence

Oil extraction changes the balance of fat, protein, and fiber in the remaining material. A feeding rate that works for whole hempseed therefore cannot simply be transferred to a seed meal or cake.

This creates a useful research opportunity. Future trials could compare whole seed and mechanically extracted meal within matched nutritional formulations. Such work would help identify whether the strongest commercial opportunity lies in feeding an intact crop product or finding additional value after oil has already been sold.

What the Gut Findings Can and Cannot Tell Us

Hempseed changed several measures of intestinal structure, including the height of villi, the small projections lining the intestine. It also changed nutrient digestibility and selected bacterial counts.

These findings help researchers investigate possible explanations for the performance results. However, taller villi do not independently prove better absorption or stronger intestinal function. The authors explicitly acknowledge that limitation.

The bacterial analysis was also restricted to selected organisms that could be cultured from the ileum, a section of the small intestine. It was not a comprehensive assessment of the gut microbiome, and it did not establish changes in fermentation in the caeca, where much of that activity occurs in chickens.

The practical takeaway is encouraging but specific: hempseed altered several digestive measurements alongside improved performance. Claims that it prevents disease or replaces antibiotics would require different experiments.

Hemp Feed Regulation Depends on the Ingredient and Animal

There is already a relevant U.S. precedent. In August 2025, the Hemp Feed Coalition announced the publication of a hempseed meal definition for laying hens in the Association of American Feed Control Officials’ Official Publication. The organization also cautioned that state acceptance remained an additional hurdle.

The AAFCO ingredient definition describes mechanically extracted meal for laying-hen diets at no more than 20% inclusion, with specified cannabinoid limits. That is a different ingredient and animal category from whole hempseed fed to meat-producing broilers.

This distinction makes the new research valuable without making it regulatory permission. Commercial development needs evidence addressing the exact ingredient, intended use, animal health, and safety of food derived from the animals.

What Would Make Hempseed a Practical Poultry Ingredient?

The next phase should connect nutritional research with the conditions feed manufacturers actually manage. Priorities include:

• Trials covering a full commercial growing cycle.
• Comparisons of complete feed costs and processing requirements.
• Batch consistency, contaminant testing, and food-safety evaluation.

Supply reliability deserves equal attention. MyCannabis reporting on hemp cultivar and row-spacing research highlights how strongly crop performance can vary. Feed manufacturers would need dependable specifications and deliveries, which in turn could give growers clearer production targets.

The opportunity is a more coordinated hemp supply chain: growers producing grain for a defined buyer, processors supplying consistent ingredients, and poultry producers purchasing measurable nutritional value. This study supplies a promising piece of that foundation. Demonstrating that the advantage survives commercial costs and production conditions would bring hempseed closer to becoming a routine feed ingredient.

References:

¹ Moaddab Gaskarei, M., Shariatmadari, F., Karimi Torshizi, M. A., & Ahmadi, H. (2026). Impacts of hempseed and multicarbohydrase on growth performance, digestibility, intestinal morphology and microbial population of broilers. Poultry Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2026.107993