10

Maintenance of Cannabis germplasm in the
Vavilov Research Institute Gene Bank - 1995

Sofia Kutuzova¹, Lyudmila Rumyantseva² and Robert C. Clarke³

¹ Project Chief and ² Researcher,
N. I. Vavilov All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Industry, St. Petersburg, Russia;
³ International Hemp Association, Postbus 75007, 1070 AA Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Kutuzova, Sofia, L. Rumyantseva and R. C. Clarke., 1996. Maintenance of Cannabis germplasm in the Vavilov Research Institute Gene Bank - 1995. Journal of the International Hemp Association 3(1): 10-12.
    Ninety-two samples of the Cannabis collection were planted on the isolated plots of Kuban, Ustimovka, Ekaterinino and Pavlovsk Experiment Stations of the VIR with the purpose of reproduction and maintenance of their viability.   Reproductions were received from 74 accessions; 4 did not germinate, 5 were stolen, and 9 failed to mature seed.

Introduction
    Hemp is a traditional and important industrial crop for Russian agriculture.  However, in recent years the areas of its cultivation have sharply diminished.  Only 8,000-10,000 hectares were cultivated in 1995.  Since Russia became cut off from the major cotton-producing areas in the south, the demand of the national industry in the country's own natural fibers (including that of hemp) has grown considerably.  Hence, there is again a tendency to develop and enhance cultivation and seed production technologies for commercial hemp cultivars as well as breeding new high-yielding hemp cultivars free from psychoactive substances.
    In such a situation the significance of hemp genetic resources stored in the gene bank of VIR has greatly increased.  However, these circumstances have made the process of germplasm viability maintenance much more difficult due to the separation of southern experiment stations where late-ripening thermophilous (heat requiring) hemp samples were formerly maintained, and also because of the increased risk of plant theft from isolated plots.  Despite precautions each year a part of the planted samples fail to yield reproductions due to poor seed ripening and theft.
    The target of this work was to maintain a set of hemp accessions from VIR's germplasm collection in order to revive their viability and confirm their identity for future use by plant breeders.

Materials and methods
    In 1995, in order to maintain germination ability, 92 accessions were planted on isolated plots in different climate conditions at 4 experimental stations:
    1) Pavlovsk (in the vicinity of St. Petersburg)
    2) Kuban (in Krasnodar Region)
    3) Ekaterinino (in Tambov Province)
    4) Ustimovka (Ukraine)
     The size of plots was dependent on the availability of seed and their germination rate.  Methods applied were the same as in previous years: manual planting in rows with 20 cm intervals between the rows; hoeing and weeding of young plants; removal of atypical plants during budding and flowering phases; and manual harvesting (Lemeshev et al. 1994).

Results
   On isolated plots of Pavlovsk Station 19 accessions of hemp belonging to the dioecious Northern and Middle Russian groups were planted.  The minimum distance between plots was 2 km.  The plots were protected by heavy forest cover and landscape relief providing additional isolation.  Meteorological conditions in 1995 were even more unfavorable than in 1994.  In May and June cold and rainy weather led to soaking of the soil, which caused delays in plowing and cultivation of isolated plots.  Hence planting was also delayed.  In June and August there was hot and dry weather with temperatures in excess of 30°C.  All this produced negative effects on the development and productivity of the plants.  Harvesting was started in mid-September.  Of 19 planted samples, 15 yielded reproductions and 4 failed to yield mature seed (Table 1).

    Twenty accessions were planted on isolated plots at Ekaterinino Station.  Weather conditions in 1995 were not favorable: due to early spring drought many young plants grew sparsely and therefore produced poor seed yields.   As a result, 17 accessions reproduced seeds, 1 did not germinate, 1 was cut and stolen and 1 produced very few plants (Table 2).

    Twenty accessions belonging to the monoecious and dioecious Southern groups were planted on isolated plots at the Kuban Station.   Planting was delayed due to a delay in settling financial issues.  By the time of planting all other crops had already germinated.  Soil moisture had already been exhausted, and therefore plants on many plots grew sparsely.  Fifteen accessions were reproduced, 3 yielded insufficient number of plants and 2 were cut and stolen (Table 3).

    Thirty-three hemp accessions were planted at the Ustimovka Station.  Twenty of them were sown at the optimum time and produced good seed yield.  Thirteen additional samples were sown a little later in dry soil.   Because of that, 3 accessions did not germinate, and 5 did not yield mature seeds.   Two accessions were stolen, so only 23 accessions were fully reproduced (Table 4).

Conclusion
   Ninety-two hemp accessions were planted out with the intention of maintaining viability.   Seventy accessions were satisfactorily reproduced.  Four accessions did not germinate, 6 were cut and stolen, 10 did not yield mature seeds, and 3 samples produced an insufficient number of plants.
    Thanks to the implementation of the joint VIR/IHA project, in 1993-1995 a total of 252 hemp accessions were reproduced.  All of the samples were either very old seed reproductions (before 1989) or had a small number of seeds.  Successful reproductions were received from 134 threatened accessions.  In 55 accessions very small number of seeds were produced, so it would be necessary to repeat regeneration.   In addition, repeated regeneration is required for 65 accessions, which yielded insufficient seed quantities in 1991-1992 before the VIR/IHA project started.
    On the basis of the accomplished works, it is obvious that in order to complete this project successfully it would be necessary to enlarge the number of isolated plots.  This will require widening of the number of experiment stations participating in the project.  In 1995 the project was expanded into Italy (see pg. 7).  We hope to have cooperation with Italy again in 1996 and also initiate reproductions in Uzbekistan and Yugoslavia.

Reference

• Lemeshev, N., L. Rumyantseva and R. C. Clarke 1994.  Maintenance of the Cannabis germplasm in the Vavilov Research Institute Gene Bank 1993 Journal of the International Hemp Association 1(1): 1, 3-5.