Tissue Culture and Cannabis; To Reduce Disease Incidence, Pesticide Use, and Related Crop Loss

Tags: Agriculture, Breeding, Contaminants, Genomics, Hemp, Pesticides, Tissue Culture

Jonathan Vaught, Ph.D.

In agricultural verticals that utilize cloning practices, tissue culture is the predominant method for propagation of each new planting. The cannabis industry is growing so quickly and the plant count has reached a critical mass, so the risk for massive disease outbreak is significant. The best way to prevent these catastrophes in a pesticide-free way is utilizing a tissue culture clean stock program, which provides cultivators with clean, disease-free clones to start their production cycle.

Broadly speaking, the tissue culture propagation process begins by taking vegetative material either from customers or a library of germplasm. The materials initiate into tissue culture, removing disease and acclimatizing the plant to the tissue culture environment. Next comes testing the proprietary media formulations on the varietal to find the most efficient and productive match. Following testing, it’s time to multiply the now disease-free clean stock material to prepare for production. Once completed the clones are ready for delivery to customers. It’s also possible to provide genetic banking, or long-term storage. Using tissue culture techniques, large libraries of varietals can be stored in a safe, efficient manner. Upon request, banked varietals can be spun back up into production quickly.