The effects of plant density and duration of vegetative growth phase on agronomic traits of medicinal cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.): A regression analysis

Torsten Schober, Achim Präger, Jens Hartung and Simone Graeff-Hönninger

PLOS ONE, 2024, vol. 19, issue 12, 1-28

Abstract: Empirical data on the effect of plant density (PD) and length of the vegetative phase (DVP) on plant growth, yield, and cannabinoid concentration of medicinal cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) are still scarce, leading to a lack of specific cultivation recommendations. We conducted two greenhouse experiments to investigate the effect of PD in the range of 12–36 plants m-2 (D-trial) and DVP in the range of 1–4 weeks (V-trial) on plant morphology, biomass growth of individual plant organs, and CBD concentration of individual inflorescence fractions. Empirical models for the relationships between the investigated plant traits and PD/DVP were created using linear regression analysis preceded by a lack-of-fit test. An increase in PD led to a linear decrease in inflorescence yield per plant (p = 0.02), whereas a positive linear relationship was found for inflorescence yield (p = 0.0001) and CBD yield (p = 0.0002) per m2. Total area yields in the D-trial ranged from 119 to 247 g m-2 from lowest to highest PD. DVP showed a positive linear relationship with inflorescence yield on an individual plant (p = 0.0001) and area basis (p

Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0315951

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0315951

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