Evaluation of Eleven Industrial Hemp Cultivars Grown in Eastern Canada

Abstract

Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is a multipurpose crop for which there is growing interest in Canada. There is, however, currently limited information on the adaptation and production potential of government approved cultivars in eastern Canada. Eleven cultivars were evaluated in terms of biomass and seed yields and composition, when grown in seven contrasted environments in the province of Québec. Dry matter yields varied considerably across cultivars and environments, ranging between 172 and 8837 kg ha–¹ (average of 3226 kg ha–¹) for biomass, and between 47 and 3781 kg ha–¹ (average of 1315 kg ha–¹) for seeds. Despite the presence of cultivar × environment interactions for both biomass and seed yields, the cultivars Anka, Ferimon, and Jutta consistently produced high yields across environments. Averaged across environments, these cultivars respectively had biomass and seed yields of 4591 and 1397, 5827, and 1878, and 4096 and 1408 kg DM ha–¹. Limited variation was observed among cultivars in terms of composition. Cellulose was the largest biomass constituent (average of 562 g kg–¹ DM across cultivars and environments), followed by hemicellulose and lignin (averages of 123 and 93 g kg–¹ DM, respectively), while seed crude protein (CP) and oil (ether extract) concentrations averaged 237 and 288 g kg–¹ DM, respectively. Considerable variation in yield potential and adaptation were observed among the cultivars of industrial hemp evaluated in the province of Québec; while b…