Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39774473›Full record

ArticlePloS one2024

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, Simone Graeff-Hönninger

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Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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0 citing papers in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Torsten SchoberAgronomy, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.ORCID 0009-0008-7240-4262
Achim PrägerAgronomy, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-5206-5848
Jens HartungBiostatistics, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.
Simone Graeff-HönningerAgronomy, Institute of Crop Science, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

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 < 0.0001) along with most other relevant agronomic traits such as CBD production, plant size and lateral shoot length. Total area yields in the V-trial ranged from 295 to 571 g m-2 from lowest to highest DVP. The yield increase could be linked to the increased inflorescence number per plant rather than inflorescence size. In contrast to expectations, neither PD nor DVP had significant effects on the cannabinoid concentration gradient from upper to lower canopy layers. CBD concentrations in inflorescences from lower canopy layers were reduced by 23% in the V-trial and 46% in the D-trial. However, with increasing PD, the proportion of higher-concentrated inflorescence fractions from upper canopy layers increased from 46% to 68%, while an extension of DVP shifted this proportion only marginally from 45% to 50%. In the context of standardized production, we therefore advocate high-density production systems that increase the proportion of desired inflorescence fractions from upper canopy layers.

Indexed as

CannabisBiomassCannabinoidsInflorescenceMedical MarijuanaRegression AnalysisCannabinoidsMedical Marijuana

Identifiers

PMID39774473
PMCPMC11684660

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.