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Hemp research and growing in Ukraine
P. Goloborod'ko Institute of Bast Crops, Glukhov, Ukraine
Introduction
Hemp has been
grown in Ukraine for centuries. Before the 1950s the area under hemp cultivation in
Ukraine exceeded 150,000 ha.
Table 1. Area of hemp production in Ukraine from 1950-1993.
Years | Hemp area (1,000 ha) |
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 1993 |
15.3 97.4 63.1 31.6 10.2 5.7 |
Hemp fibre was widely used in
the manufacture of technical products, and was used by peasants to make cloth, clothes and
household goods. Hemp seeds, after different kinds of processing, and hemp seed oil,
were used as food and for technical purposes.
The large-scale cultivation of cheaper cotton,
and development of the synthetic fibres industry caused the hemp area in Ukraine, as well
as all over the world, to decrease. This decline was also due to the spread of its
use as a drug, especially in the southern regions of Ukraine.
In 1994, about 4,000 ha were sown for fibre
hemp in Ukraine. Hemp was grown in three zones: the northern zone (Sumy region
~1,000 ha), the forest and steppe zone (Poltava and Cherkassy region ~2,000 ha), and the
steppe zone (Dnepropetrovsk region ~1,000 ha). Hemp fibre is used exclusively to
manufacture technical products such as marine and river cordage, ropes, cores for steel
cables, twines, technical clothes, etc. Since industrial demand for hemp fiber is
not satisfied, and there is a large demand for hemp products, the area under hemp
production in Ukraine will increase.
Contemporary history
During 1929-1930
in the Soviet Union large collective farms (kolkhoz) and state farms (sovkhoz) replaced
individual peasant farms. Hemp growing was concentrated on collective farms or state
farms with 100-500 ha sown. In 1931, the All-Union Scientific and Research Institute
of Bast Crops was organized in the town of Glukhov to study problems of the cultivation,
harvesting, and processing of hemp. The Institute exists now as the Institute of
Bast Crops of the Ukrainian Academy of Agrarian Sciences and carries out research on hemp
and fiber flax. For more than 60 years the Institute thoroughly investigated the
problems of the anatomy, biology, and physiology of hemp plants, researched selection and
genetics; developed methods of hemp growing for different soil and climatic zones,
developed technologies of harvesting stalks and seeds and primary fiber processing, and
designed harvesting equipment.
Ukrainian hemp breeding progressed through two
stages. During the first stage, local varieties with stem fiber content of 12-15%
long fiber yield were replaced by the dioecious hemp varieties with high fiber content.
The varieties US-1, US-6, US-9, Glukhovskaya 1, and Glukhovskaya 10 was grown in
the northern zone, Yuzhnaya Cherkasskaya was grown in the forest and steppe zone, and
Dneprovskaya 4, Yuzhnaya Krasnodarskaya, and Krasnodarskaya 35 were grown in the south of
Ukraine and the Northern Caucasus. Due to acclimatization in different zones of
southern hemp varieties, and to use of different methods of hybridization and breeding,
stem fiber content in these varieties was increased to 22-27%, and in some varieties stem
fiber content exceeded 30%.
The second stage of hemp breeding consisted in
development of monoecious hemp varieties which could help solve the problems of harvest
mechanization. In the early 1960s the hemp variety Bernburgskaya Odnodomnaya from
Germany was grown. Hybridization of that variety with the dioecious hemp variety
US-6 of high fiber content, and subsequent breeding, resulted in 1968 in the high yield
monoecious hemp variety USO-1. Later the varieties USO-4, Poltavskaya Odnodomnaya 3,
and USO-16 were developed. Since the 1980s only monoecious hemp has been grown in
Ukraine.
Due to the spread of the use of illicit drugs,
many countries imposed limitations, and even made hemp growing illegal. According to
the laws of the Soviet Union it was illegal to grow new hemp varieties with
tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) content higher than 0.3%, later the allowable THC content was
reduced to 0.25%, and since 1988 it has been reduced to 0.1%. Hemp breeding for low
cannabinoid content was preceded by study of cannabinoid combinations, through determining
different methods of analysis and diagnostics including express diagnostics, which
underlay the methods of breeding hemp varieties with low drug potency. Several
generations of varieties with different THC content were developed. At present 5
hemp varieties with low THC content and differing economic indices are being grown in
Ukraine.
Table 2. Agronomic data for Ukrainian hemp cultivars. |
|||||
Varieties | Vegetative Cycle (days) | Yield (t/ha) |
|
Stem fiber content (% d.w.) | THC content (% d.w.) |
USO-31 USO-14 USO-11 USO-13 Dneprovskaya odnodomnaya 6 |
115-120 |
8 8-9 9-10 9-10 9-10 |
0.8-1.2 |
30-32 30-32 27-28 27-28 30-31 |
0.06 0.16 0.20 0.14 0.18 |
Present techniques
The system of
seed growing of monoecious hemp varieties preserves a high level of varietal typicalness.
To produce super-elite seeds and elite seeds staminate plants are removed.
Plants in the first reproduction are grown under the conditions of spatial isolation and
free cross-pollination and the number of starninate plants does not exceed 5%. Seeds
of the second reproduction are used to grow hemp only for fiber and the number of
staminate plants does not exceed 25%.
Table 3. Characterization of stem fiber content in gene bank accessions. | |
Fiber content (% d.w.) |
Number of accessions |
10-15% 16-20% 21-25% 26-30% >30% |
88 125 20 27 10 |
Since 1992, following the proclamation of the independent state of Ukraine, the Institute has been working on the formation of the national gene bank of bast crops. In 1994, 283 hemp accessions (211 dioecious and 72 monoecious) were studied. The collection was thoroughly investigated for fiber and cannabinoid content, stalk and seed yield, plant height, length of vegetative cycle, and resistance to diseases and pests. The most valuable accessions were introduced as initial material for breeding.
Table 4. Characterization of THC content in gene bank accessions. | |
THC content (% d.w.) |
Number of accessions |
0.0-0.5% 0.06-0.19% 0.20-0.30% 0.40-0.50% >0.50% |
6 30 30 35 182 |
The Institute developed
agrotechnical hemp-growing methods for the soil and climatic, organizational, and economic
conditions of Ukraine. Hemp is cultivated in special short rotations. In
kolkhozes and sovkhozes with large hemp areas, hemp is grown in cereal root crop
rotations. Recently an energy-saving system of soil preparation in hemp rotations
was developed based on the combination of mold-board plowing and post-plowing tillage.
Fertilizers consisting of nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P), and potassium (K) macro
nutrients and boron (B), bromine (Br), copper (Cu), and Zinc (Zn) micro nutrients are
applied according to the results of soil diagnostics.
Two hemp-growing technologies are used in
Ukraine. The first technology is for the production of fiber and seed. Hemp is
sown in wide rows at row width of 45 or 60 cm. Seeding rate for elite seeds is 60-90
seeds per m2, for seeds of the
first reproduction is 120-180 seeds per m2, and for seeds of the second reproduction is 180-240 seeds per m2. Hemp is harvested when the seeds ripen.
This technology is used to grow 30% of hemp in the northern zone, 50% of hemp in
the forest and steppe zone and 100% of hemp in the steppe zone. The second
technology is used to produce only fiber. Hemp is sown at row width of 7.5 or 15 cm.
Seeding rate is 450-500 seeds per m2. Hemp is harvested after the end of the flowering of the staminate plants.
According to which technology of hemp growing is used, different harvesting
technologies are employed.
To grow hemp for fiber and seeds direct
combining and swath harvesting are used. For direct combining we use the combine
KKY-1.9. The combine cuts plants, threshes and cleans seeds, and binds stems with
twine or spreads them out in the field. Hemp is harvested when 75-80% of seeds in
inflorescences are ripe as seed shedding losses are minimal. Since not all the seeds
are ripe the humidity level of threshed seeds may be as high as 20%. To avoid damage
it is necessary to dry the seeds to decrease the humidity level to 12-13%. The
Institute worked out a method of chemical drying of hemp stands by treating them with
desiccants during the 7-10 days before the start of harvest. MgClO3·6 H2O (10 kg/ha) and Reglon (Diquat) (1 l/ha) are used as desiccants.
Unfortunately, due to the insignificant area
devoted to hemp, mass production of hemp combine harvesters is not organized. We
consider it possible, through the common efforts of interested firms, to organize joint
production of hemp combines. For swath hemp harvesting we use the cutter GK-1.9 which cuts hemp plants, binds them, and throws them down.
Binds are threshed by the hemp thresher pK-4.5A. This
technology results in greater seed losses and higher-manual labor costs. Hemp grown
for fiber only is harvested by the cutter GK-1.9 which cuts plants and spreads them out in the field for dew retting.
During dry weather stalks are turned over to obtain even retting.
After dew retting the picking-up machine KB-1
picks up the stalks and binds them. Further operations with loading and unloading
binds are connected with high manual labor costs. We also have the technology and
machines for rolling retted hemp with parallel arrangement of the stalks.
Hemp-growing and hemp-harvesting technologies
in Ukraine differ in many ways from the technologies used in other countries. In
Ukraine processing technology is based on treatment of parallelizing hemp stems as in the
case of fiber flax. Using this technology we obtain both long and short fiber.
About 30% is long fiber and it is used to manufacture the most important products,
primarily cordage for marine and river boats.
Conclusions
This process
technology is more expensive and requires the expenditure of more labor than technologies
in other countries. In the years to come, hemp-growing will be revived in Ukraine
and the sphere of hemp usage will change. Side by side with a traditional use of
fiber to manufacture spun products, use of hemp for the pulp, paper, and textile
industries will increase considerably.
Forests occupy about 13% of the territory in
Ukraine and they are mostly preserved to protect the natural environment. Hemp can
play a considerable role in solving the problem of acute shortages of both pulp and paper
production. At the Institute we conduct breeding programs aimed at increasing the
biological potential of hemp and raising stalk yield to 12-15 t/ha. Hemp harvest and
hemp processing technologies will be made considerably simpler and cheaper.
Due to the lack of our own cotton production,
and sharp increases in cotton's price on the world market, the development of the textile
and knitting industries of Ukraine will be aimed at utilizing pure hemp and flax fiber,
and blends with other natural and synthetic fibers in the manufacture of clothes and other
products.
(This paper was presented at the Bioresource Hemp symposium in Frankfurt, Germany, March 2-5, 1995.)