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1996 VIR/IHA Cannabis Germplasm Preservation Project

        The 1996 Cannabis Germplasm Preservation Project was carried out at the Pavlovsk, Ekaterinino, Ustimovka and Kuban Experimental Stations of the Vavilov Research Institute (VIR), as in previous years.   Additional plantings were made on isolated plots at Donskaya Experimental Station of the Institute of Oil Crops (Rostov Region) and the Penza Institute of Agriculture (see. Table 1).  Out of 111 accessions planted, seed yield was received from only 87.   The major factors that caused this situation were unfavorable weather conditions and thefts.  The work at Donskaya Station was a failure, as maturing plants on all the plots were stolen.  It seems advisable to refrain from collaboration with this site in the coming year.  Similar losses at other stations were also significant and caused low seed yields.
        Sixteen monoecious samples were successfully reproduced in separate boxes in the glass houses of the Pushkin Laboratories of the VIR.   Small seed quantities were obtained from each accession, and dioecious individuals eliminated.
        A complete report of the 1996 Cannabis Germplasm Preservation Project will appear in the June 1997 JIHA 4(1).