Propagation of Cannabis for Clinical Research: An Approach Towards a Modern Herbal Medicinal Products Development

Abstract

Cannabis has been reported to contain over 560 different compounds, out of which 120 are cannabinoids. Among the cannabinoids, D 9-tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol are the two major compounds with very different pharmacological profile and a tremendous therapeutic potential. However, there are many challenges in bringing cannabis from grow-farms to pharmaceuticals. Among many, one important challenge is to maintain the supply chain of biomass, which is consistent in its cannabinoids profile. To maintain this process, male plants are removed from growing fields as they appear. Even with that practice, still there are fair chances of cross fertilization. Therefore, controlled indoor cultivation for screening, selection of high yielding female plants based on their cannabinoids profile, and their conservation and multiplication using vegetative propagation and/or micropropagation is a suitable path to ensure consistency in biomass material. In this chapter, the botany and propagation of elite cannabis varieties will be discussed.

The Past, Present and Future of Cannabis sativa Tissue Culture

“…The ability to distinguish between hemp and drug-type Cannabis has been the subject of much interest by law enforcement, which relies on THC content for distinction [35]. From a law enforcement and regulatory standpoint, the two main categories of Cannabis have been described as "drug-type" (medicinal or recreational) and "fiber-type" (industrial hemp), the drug-type generally being dioecious, with a short, wide, bush-like growth pattern, while the fiber-type can be either dioecious or monoecious with a tall and thin growth pattern [36]. However, this distinction is further complicated by hemp developed for seed or non-psychoactive cannabinoids, which often morphologically resemble drug-type Cannabis.…”

“…Cannabis is a highly adaptable species that can be grown in a variety of conditions, including outdoors in tropical or temperate climates or in controlled environments ranging from rudimentary greenhouse structures to sophisticated controlled environment facilities ( Figure 2C,D) [36]. The production system of choice is determined based on the end-use of the plant.…”

The Past, Present and Future of Cannabis sativa Tissue Culture

“…From a law enforcement and regulatory standpoint, the main two categories of Cannabis have been described as 'drug-type' (medicinal or recreational) and 'fibre-type' (industrial hemp). The drugtype generally being dioecious, with a short, wide, bush-like growth pattern, while the fibre-type can be either dioecious or monoecious with a tall and thin growth pattern [36]. However, this distinction is further complicated by hemp developed for seed or non-psychoactive cannabinoids, which often morphologically resembles drug-type Cannabis.…”

“…Cannabis is a highly adaptable species that can be grown in a variety of conditions including outdoors in tropical or temperate climates, or in controlled environments ranging from rudimentary greenhouse structures to sophisticated controlled environment facilities ( Figure 2C and D) [36]. The production system of choice is determined based on the end use of the plant.…”

High Light Intensities Can Be Used to Grow Healthy and Robust Cannabis Plants During the Vegetative Stage of Indoor Production

“…Each of three distinct growth stages that are commonly used in indoor cannabis production (i.e., propagation, vegetative growth, and flowering) have different photoperiod and LI requirements. In the propagation stage, the photoperiod is generally 18 -24 h (Chandra et al, 2020) and canopy-level photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD, µmol•m -2 •s -1 ) is usually low (Fluence, 2020;Lumigrow, 2017) to minimize transpiration loss as the clonal plants establish new root systems. After approximately two weeks in propagation, rooted cuttings (i.e., transplants) transition into the vegetative stage (Caplan et al 2018) where they are exposed to similar photoperiods but higher PPFD than propagation to encourage strong vegetative growth to prepare the plants for the flowering stage (Rodriguez-Morrison et al, 2021).…”