Hemp in space

Given the effectiveness of the results of earlier studies on the selection of cannabis in space by Chinese experts, as well as the economic effect obtained in connection with the experiments, it will be extremely useful for national breeders to study the materials of the experiments of American scientists when they appear in the public domain.

The pages of the specialized electronic edition of Ukrainian cannabis have already described how "Hemp breeding under weightless conditions is developing in China." Given the fact that only in December 2018 in the United States the appropriate legal and regulatory framework governing the ability to grow industrial crops of technical cannabis was adopted, it will be interesting to see how American companies are catching up on the technological gap on this issue over the past 15-20 years .

The Kentucky cannabis company sends cannabisa seeds into space in order to see how the plant's vital functions change in conditions of weightlessness. In particular, scientists are interested in how cannabis will multiply in microgravity. According to researchers, this information will be key to understanding the mechanisms of cannabis behavior under stress. According to the agreements, the experiments will be carried out by a commercial company specializing in space research, which has experience in organizing such activities (previously, similar studies were conducted to study the behavior of barley from a stressful situation of its activity under weightless conditions).

Joe Chappell, a pharmacist from the University of Kentucky (University of Kentucky), who advises participants in the above project on issues related to conducting this study, said during his speech to the media that microgravity can reveal the biological functions of the plant that are not obvious either do not manifest on Earth. According to him, “Understanding how plants react in the environment, where stress is the absence of their usual gravity, can provide a new understanding of how cannabis adapts in situations that are extreme for it.”

Commentary of the Association "Ukrainian technical hemp"

Experiments with hemp seeds will be conducted in space for six weeks, before the samples participating in the experiment will be returned to Earth. In addition to the reaction of cannabis to a stressful situation, other experiments related to the possibility of confronting cannabis plants with various diseases in space will be carried out within the framework of the developed program, and the functioning of various plant components in weightless conditions will be studied. Representatives of companies participating in this project state that the results obtained in the course of the research will be communicated to the general public, “because they can help in the development of biomedical applications related to the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of cannabis”.

Given the effectiveness of the results of earlier studies on the selection of cannabis in space by Chinese experts, as well as the economic effect obtained in connection with the experiments, it will be extremely useful for national breeders to study the materials of the experiments of American scientists when they appear in the public domain.