Effects of Feeding Hemp Seeds on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Fattening Lambs with Low Crude Protein Diets

In order to evaluate the effects of full-fat hemp seeds (HS) and dietary crude protein (CP) level on performance, and carcass characteristics, 30 Baluchi male lambs, were divided into three groups as follows: 1) lambs fed a diet with 14% CP without HS (CON), 2) lambs fed a diet with 14% CP containing 10% HS (HPHS), and 3) lambs fed a diet with 12% CP containing 10% HS (LPHS). Lambs were placed in individu-ally pens and adapted to the diets for 21 days before starting the 84-day experimental period. On the final day of the experiment, all the animals were slaughtered and the carcass data was recorded. Results showed that the lambs receiving HPHS diet had significantly higher dry matter intake (DMI), daily weight gain (DWG), final body weight, warm carcass weight, and fat-tail weight compared to other groups (P<0.05). In contrast, feed conversion ratio was significantly improved by HS feeding (P<0.05). A significant increase for cold carcass, carcass lean meat, brisket and brisket lean meat was observed for HPHS diet (P<0.05). With the addition of HS to diet, a significant increase was observed in the weight of fat-tail, shoulder, shoulder lean meat and visceral fat (P<0.05). The results showed that, addition of HS to the diet of fattening lambs improved growth and carcass performance and by replacing 10% of the diet of fattening lambs with HS, it is even possible to reduce the CP level of the diet by about 2%.