Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid Cannabis

There is demand for early-flowering cannabis (Cannabis sativa) cultivars to hasten harvest and avoid late-season detrimental weather conditions. A field study and greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of gene dosage at the autoflowering locus on flowering timing for diploid and tr...

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Main Authors: Lauren E. Kurtz, Mark H. Brand, Jessica D. Lubell-Brand
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS) 2023-02-01
Series:Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.ashs.org/jashs/view/journals/jashs/148/2/article-p83.xml
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author Lauren E. Kurtz
Mark H. Brand
Jessica D. Lubell-Brand
author_facet Lauren E. Kurtz
Mark H. Brand
Jessica D. Lubell-Brand
author_sort Lauren E. Kurtz
collection DOAJ
description There is demand for early-flowering cannabis (Cannabis sativa) cultivars to hasten harvest and avoid late-season detrimental weather conditions. A field study and greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of gene dosage at the autoflowering locus on flowering timing for diploid and triploid hybrids between autoflowering and photoperiod-sensitive parents. Autoflowering × photoperiod-sensitive hybrids were all photoperiod sensitive, but their critical photoperiods were longer than for homozygous photoperiod-sensitive plants, which resulted in earlier flowering. For triploid genotypes, decreasing dosage of the photoperiod-sensitive allele (A), from AAA to AAa to Aaa, reduced the time to flowering. Flowering timing for the diploid genotype Aa was intermediate between Aaa and AAa. These results provide evidence of incomplete dominance of the A allele at the autoflowering locus. Plants of genotype Aaa flowered 32 to 40 days earlier in the field than genotypes of AA, 15 days earlier than genotype Aa, and were ready for harvest by the second week of August in Connecticut. Plants of Aaa were as tall as other diploid and triploid photoperiod-sensitive genotypes studied, which suggests that they have similar yield potential. The use of tetraploid autoflowering (aaaa) maternal plants in combination with diploid photoperiod-sensitive (AA) pollen parents to produce Aaa genotype seed is a reliable approach for developing early-flowering cultivars of cannabis for flower production purposes.
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spelling doaj.art-3b7e45530b4d46a7b29e0c8170bb642e2023-05-02T18:40:02ZengAmerican Society for Horticultural Science (ASHS)Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science2327-97882023-02-011482https://doi.org/10.21273/JASHS05293-23Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid CannabisLauren E. KurtzMark H. BrandJessica D. Lubell-BrandThere is demand for early-flowering cannabis (Cannabis sativa) cultivars to hasten harvest and avoid late-season detrimental weather conditions. A field study and greenhouse studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of gene dosage at the autoflowering locus on flowering timing for diploid and triploid hybrids between autoflowering and photoperiod-sensitive parents. Autoflowering × photoperiod-sensitive hybrids were all photoperiod sensitive, but their critical photoperiods were longer than for homozygous photoperiod-sensitive plants, which resulted in earlier flowering. For triploid genotypes, decreasing dosage of the photoperiod-sensitive allele (A), from AAA to AAa to Aaa, reduced the time to flowering. Flowering timing for the diploid genotype Aa was intermediate between Aaa and AAa. These results provide evidence of incomplete dominance of the A allele at the autoflowering locus. Plants of genotype Aaa flowered 32 to 40 days earlier in the field than genotypes of AA, 15 days earlier than genotype Aa, and were ready for harvest by the second week of August in Connecticut. Plants of Aaa were as tall as other diploid and triploid photoperiod-sensitive genotypes studied, which suggests that they have similar yield potential. The use of tetraploid autoflowering (aaaa) maternal plants in combination with diploid photoperiod-sensitive (AA) pollen parents to produce Aaa genotype seed is a reliable approach for developing early-flowering cultivars of cannabis for flower production purposes.https://journals.ashs.org/jashs/view/journals/jashs/148/2/article-p83.xmlday neutralploidycannabis sativa
spellingShingle Lauren E. Kurtz
Mark H. Brand
Jessica D. Lubell-Brand
Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid Cannabis
Journal of the American Society for Horticultural Science
day neutral
ploidy
cannabis sativa
title Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid Cannabis
title_full Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid Cannabis
title_fullStr Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid Cannabis
title_full_unstemmed Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid Cannabis
title_short Gene Dosage at the Autoflowering Locus Effects Flowering Timing and Plant Height in Triploid Cannabis
title_sort gene dosage at the autoflowering locus effects flowering timing and plant height in triploid cannabis
topic day neutral
ploidy
cannabis sativa
url https://journals.ashs.org/jashs/view/journals/jashs/148/2/article-p83.xml
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AT jessicadlubellbrand genedosageattheautofloweringlocuseffectsfloweringtimingandplantheightintriploidcannabis