The Milk Thistle Seed Cakes and Hempseed Cakes are Potential Feed for Poultry

SIMPLE SUMMARY: In accordance with Commission Regulation (EC) No 726/2004, the use of antibiotics as stimulators of animal growth and performance has been banned in all European Union countries since 2006 (due to the elimination of antibiotic residues from the human food chain). Due to this ban, many scientists are studying alternative approaches to the use of various biologically active substances with a growth-promoting effect. A promising direction is the use of alternative feeds containing bioactive compounds or mixtures of natural origin, or the use of phytoadditives or plant extracts, probiotics, prebiotics, symbiotics or oilseed by-products, such as hempseed cakes and milk thistle seed cakes, in animal nutrition. ABSTRACT: The aims of this work were to summarize the nutritional value of the milk thistle seed cakes and hempseed cakes and describe the influence on selected performance parameters, metabolism and animal health from inclusion of these non-traditional feeds into diets. It seems more appropriate to apply the extract of the bioactive substances complex to the livestock diets than addition of expellers or other forms of plants processing. The seed expellers, etc. mostly worsened the chickens’ performance parameters with higher doses in diets, while most of the work using the extract yields had positive results on animal performance.