Development of seedless triploid hemp varieties.

Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is an important natural source of cannabinoids for consumer products. Mainly grown outdoors, unintended cross-pollination can result in a significant loss of cannabinoid yield via seeding. To overcome this risk, the team intends to develop seedless, triploid varieties of hemp with high minor cannabinoid content, notably cannabigerol (CBG) O cannabichromene (CBC). The team will double the number of chromosomes in starting lines to make tetraploid (4n) hemp or hemp with 4 copies of each chromosome, Tetraploid flowers (4n) will be fertilized with pollen from normal diploid (2n) hemp of the same cultivar to produce 3n or triploid hemp seed. As seen for seedless bananas and watermelon, triploid hemp plants should be infertile when pollinated due to an uneven number of chromosomes. This process known as genome polyploidization has been successful in closely related crops to Cannabis such as hops, with benefits to product quality.

Faculty Supervisor:

Shelley Hepworth

Student:

Partner:

Cannabis Orchards Inc

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Carleton University

Program: