When will a national manufacturer "launch" the market for animal-derived hemp nutraceuticals?
Taking into account the observed trends in the nutraceutical market, in 2021 in our country it is planned to conduct several experiments at once to study the storage capacity of animals, to assimilate therapeutically active elements of the hemp plant in the course of feeding with leaves and inflorescences of industrial hemp, as well as to determine the therapeutic possibilities of this kind of modern products. animal husbandry.
On the pages of the specialized electronic edition of Ukrainian cannabis growers, it has already been described several times how academic research on the potential of cannabis as a feed for livestock is being carried out at several US universities at once. In particular, the article “ In the US is investigating the feasibility of using cannabis leaves and flowers as pet food, ” emphasized that researchers from the University of Oregon are studying whether feeding used hemp biomass to lambs will create residual cannabinoids in their meat and potentially affect the health and productivity of animals.
A research team from Kansas State University received a $ 200,000 grant from the USDA's National Food and Agriculture Institute. Scientists are studying the concentration of cannabinoids in milk, meat and edible tissues of livestock fed with the leaves and buds of industrial hemp.
Holstein gobies are fed industrial hemp
A research project is underway at Colorado State University in which cannabis is fed to young, castrated male sheep in order to test whether the plant works as a protein supplement.
In the course of the conducted experiments, it was concluded that hemp is a storehouse of protein for livestock, comparable to other sources, such as soybean meal. It has been found that ruminants can easily digest plant material with a high cellulose content, breaking down the hemp in the rumen (the largest part of the stomach), converting the constituent plants into various nutrients. Considering the fact that the endocannabinoid system exists in the body of animals as well as in the human body, the use of the leaves and inflorescences of industrial hemp as feed clearly improves the physiological and psycho-emotional state of animals. In addition, the effect of the accumulation of therapeutically active elements of the hemp plant (primarily cannabinoids) in meat, milk, and animal hair is observed. Those. further use of this product by a person will not only have a saturation function (if it is used as a food product), or will be able to protect the human body from adverse natural factors (in the case of using wool as a basis for making clothes), but also have an essential therapeutic component , since food products, which contain an increased concentration of therapeutically active elements of the plant, have a significant health-improving / healing effect. Those. these products can be considered nutraceuticals.
Considering the observed trends in the formation of the market for animal products rich in therapeutically active elements of hemp, a group of American experts, representatives of the livestock and pet industry, as well as cannabis producers have united in the Hemp Feed Coalition (HFC). The main purpose of the above structure is to regulate the legal possibility of using various constituents of a plant as feed for pets. According to the head of the above structure, private farms are already feeding their livestock with various hemp ingredients, but it is necessary to create appropriate regulations that will make possible the industrial production of hemp feed by large companies specializing in their production.
Commentary of experts of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"
During the training of the students of the "Hemp University" the question is regularly raised about the experiments carried out on the territory of our country to feed cattle or poultry with leaves and inflorescences of industrial hemp. Taking into account the observed trends in the nutraceutical market, in 2021 in our country it is planned to conduct several experiments at once to study the storage capacity of the animal organism, to assimilate therapeutically active elements of the hemp plant in the course of feeding with leaves and inflorescences of technical hemp, as well as to determine the therapeutic possibilities of this kind of modern products. animal husbandry.