A new project by Canapa Sativa Italia aims to evaluate the productive stability of cannabinoids, both in germinated plants and clones. The project will be carried out by the Experimental Prophylactic Institute of Southern Italy, which wants to "evaluate how the environment affects the production of cannabinoids of the same variety and the same plant (clones) as well as to compare the plant stability from seed and from clones. The monoclonal plants are derived from a single certified and selected mother plant.
According to the association: "The challenge of the project is mainly represented by the computational side: there is a lot of statistical data to be processed and analyzed. This is fundamental to establish the different responses that the propagative choice (seed or cutting) can have regarding yields, production and stability of active compounds. By carrying the project out in different Italian regions will allow a full expression of the environmental effects on the variety selected for the project. This enables us to evaluate, with the same cultivation input, how the behavior from seed and from cuttings depending on the cultivation environment. The farms are located in the north, center and south of Italy, to evaluate as widely as possible the adaptive response of the specific variety to the growing environment".
In a press release they point out that: "This project also aims to fill a very serious gap: the reduced presence of Italian data and scientific publications concerning research and agronomy on the Cannabis plant. The information we have concerns researches and statistics involving different uses, such as fiber, seed, oil production, while in other European countries research - beyond the legislative trend - has never stopped".
The project
400 plants obtained from seed and 400 from clones (cuttings) belonging to the same species (of certified varieties and admitted to cultivation according to the laws and regulations in force on the matter) have been distributed together with soil, specific fertilizers and pots of fabric to 12 Italian farms (all members of CSI: expert growers whose lands are located both in the north and in the center and south of the country) that commit their land and workforce for free.
"The number of plants admitted to the experimentation guarantees an important statistical basis; the geographic distribution of the experiment guarantees an exhaustive study of the behavior of the same plants by areal and geographic condition allowing an ecotypic analysis as well as varietal stability".
The Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale del Mezzogiorno (based in Portici, NA) is an Italian health institution, the first to have included Cannabis and cannabinoids among its institutional activities, as well as being the first IZSM to have the authorization issued by the Ministry of Health for the cultivation of Cannabis with unknown thc for experimental purposes.
The young researchers involved and responsible for the project are Augusto Siciliano (1992, Zooprophylactic Institute of Southern Italy, scientific head of the project) and Samuele Paganelli (1993, technical consultant, acting director of the Technical-Scientific Committee of the Italian non-profit organization Canapa Sativa Italia) both doctors in Agriculture.
Source: canapaindustriale.it