Independence, OR – Hemp seed producing powerhouse Oregon CBD announced their release of two triploid CBDV rich cultivars this week, the firsts of their kind.
CBDV, or cannabidivarin, is one of hundreds of known cannabinoids that until recently has had little presence in the cannabis plant. Lauded for its potential medical benefits, its use by the casual consumer have yet to be fully discovered or embraced.
For the breeders at Oregon CBD, coaxing the cannabinoid out into the open has been a top priority for years.
“We started our varin breeding project after discovering what could basically be described as blips on a chromatogram five years ago,” comments Oregon CBD Co-Owner Seth Crawford. “It’s been a long journey, but we couldn’t be more excited to bring this novel cannabinoid out into the market.”
CBDV is chemically similar to CBD, but according to Crawford elicits calm, focused energy, coupled with muscle relaxation, and is the target of multiple pharmaceutical research commercialization efforts. Crawford describes their two varieties as capable of producing large, richly aromatic flowers that remain below 0.3% total THC even as trimmed flower.
For industrial hemp growers, the company’s claims that dried and trimmed flowers will remain below the federally mandated total THC requirements of 0.3% total THC is big news. Studies have shown the CBD gene produces THC at rates of around 25 parts CBD to 1 part THC, meaning any flower that contains over 7-8% CBD will most likely contain over 0.3% total THC.
According to Oregon CBD the answer is breeding varieties with half of their total cannabinoids as CBDV and around half of the remainder as CBD. Their research has shown total THC percentages are cut in half with the varin (CBDV) cannabinoid present and plants that are able to reach total cannabinoid percentages in the teens.
“Even extremely low CBD producing varieties that may only hit 7% total cannabinoids still have the risk of going hot,” says Crawford. “The rules of standard deviation show a percentage of the population will still hit over 0.3% unless you have a variety that maxes out around 5% CBD. No one wants a variety that low.”
In addition to being high in novel CBDV, their two new offerings Forbidden V Seedless and Pine Walker Seedless are labeled as triploids. The long celebrated and traditional triploid breeding process produces plants with 3 sets of chromosomes instead of 2. Triploids used in other crops such as grapes, hops, bananas, citrus, and watermelon are sterile, and also boast a variety of increases in production and aroma.
“Triploids are the future of cannabis,” adds Seth. “We saw between 30 to 100% production increases in our triploid field trials last summer, and even after coating them with pollen we found a maximum of around 3 seeds per plant. Not to mention a variety of added aromas you just don’t get in their diploid counterparts.”
The science behind breeding triploids is fairly straight forward. Cannabis in the wild has 2 sets of chromosome pairs, a copy from each parent. In rare-documented cases plants can mutate into tetraploids which have 4 sets of chromosome pairs. Tetraploids in other agricultural crops exhibit slightly larger fruits and flowers but few other differences. The magic, according to Crawford, is when a tetraploid is crossed with a diploid to produce a triploid.
“Anything in nature with an odd number of chromosome pairs is sterile,” adds Seth. “And for growers this means seedless flowers even if they are exposed to pollination. Seeded cannabis crops are essentially worthless on the trimmed flower market and a severe hit to biomass producers.”
Oregon CBD, which brands itself as an industrial hemp seed research and development firm, hosts what they call a laboratory based and field trial backed breeding program – while its new offerings maintain both USDA Organic and NSF Non-GMO Certifications.
For a market faced with “hot” CBD saturation and farmers experiencing heavy pollination issues around the nation, federally compliant CBDV rich triploid cannabis genetics could just be the answer for an industry in turmoil. For consumers it might just be the next big buzz. Only time will tell.
For more information on Oregon CBD’s CBDV genetics visit their website:
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