METHOD FOR PROMOTING LEVELS OF MEDICINAL INGREDIENTS IN CANNABIS

Abstract

A method for promoting levels of medicinal ingredients in cannabis. The method comprises a step to administering an irradiation of a combined light source including red light, green light and blue light in an indoor growing environment of cannabis. A ratio of photon number between a sum of the red and green light to the blue light is regulated in a range from 4.5 to 9.6. While maintaining the light intensity and other growth conditions, the yields and levels of CBD, secondary metabolites in cannabis, can be increased by up to 20.84%.

Claims

1. A method for promoting levels of medicinal ingredients in cannabis, comprising: administering an irradiation of a combined light source including red light, green light and blue light in an indoor growing environment of cannabis; wherein a ratio of photon number between a sum of the red and green light to the blue light is regulated in a range from 4.5 to 9.6 to improve accumulation of levels and yields of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) in the cannabis.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a ratio of photon number between the blue light and the entire light source is 9.5-18.0%.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a ratio of photon number between the green light and the entire light source is 18-42%.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein a ratio of photon number between the red light and the entire light source is 40-70%.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein a ratio of photon number between the red light and the entire light source is 40-70%.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein a ratio of photon number between the green light and the entire light source is 18-42%.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein a ratio of photon number between the red light and the entire light source is 40-70%.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the light source used in the indoor growing environment of cannabis is a LED light source.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the blue light has a peak wavelength at 450 nm, the green light has a peak wavelength at 526 nm, and the red light has a peak wavelength at 660 nm.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the LED light source is realized directly by a LED chip or by using the LED chip to excite a phosphor material.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein in the indoor growing environment, an initial light intensity is 80 μmol/m.sup.2s, a maximum light intensity is 1000 μmol/m.sup.2s, and a photoperiod is 10-16 h/d.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the light source used in the indoor growing environment of cannabis is a LED light source.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein a ratio of the photon number of the blue light to the photon number of the red light is 1:4.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] FIG. 1 is a spectral distribution diagram from a LED light source which is realized directly by a LED chip according to the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 2 is a spectral distribution diagram from a LED light source which is realized by using the LED chip to excite a phosphor material according to the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 3 is a full spectral distribution diagram from a light source which is realized by using the LED chip to excite a phosphor material according to the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 4 is a spectral distribution diagram from a light source which is realized directly by a LED chip according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0023] The present disclosure will be further described in detail below with reference to the drawings and specific embodiments, in order to better understand the objective, the technical solution and the advantage of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure.

[0024] In the early stage of treatment to cannabis seedling, top branches of strong cannabis mother plant are selected as stem cuttings for plant cutting, or cannabis seeds are selected for sowing. The seedling stage is about 2 weeks. The cannabis seedlings with good rooting conditions are transplanted into the substrate or rock wool for the vegetative growth phase (the vegetative growth stage is about 4 weeks). Each rock wool block has 1 plant, and a density for the transplanted cannabis seedlings is 9 plants/m.sup.2. The plant is topped when the plant is about 20 cm high for triggering the growth of side branches. After the vegetative growth stage is finished, the plant is moved to the flower promotion stage for flower promotion treatment. The planting density of the plant in the flower promotion stage is 4-6 plants/m.sup.2. A distinguishment to the male and female flowers is required. The male flowers will be removed, and the female plants will be cultivated. The cultivation environment is set to have a day and night temperature at 24-26° C./21-22° C., humidity at 60-70%, CO.sub.2 concentration at 10000 ppm. Throughout the growth process, the LED light source directly realized by the LED chip is an artificial light source. The spectrum distribution diagram directly realized by the LED chip is shown in FIG. 1. The LED light source as shown provides a light environment for the growth of cannabis. An initial light intensity is set to 80-100 μmol/m.sup.2s. As the plant height increases, the light intensity may reach 500-1000 μmol/m.sup.2s in the late stage, and the photoperiod is 10-16 h/d. After 7-9 weeks of growth at the flowering stage, the accumulation of levels and yields of CBD, the secondary metabolites in inflorescence of cannabis plants, would be promoted.

Embodiment 1

[0025] Top branches of strong cannabis mother plant are selected as stem cuttings for plant cutting. After the plant cutting is finished (the plant cutting stage is about 2 weeks), the cannabis seedlings with good rooting conditions are transplanted into the rock wool or the substrate for the vegetative growth phase (the vegetative growth stage is about 4 weeks). Each rock wool block has 1 plant, and a density for the transplanted cannabis seedlings is 9 plants/m.sup.2. The plant is topped when the plant is about 20 cm high for triggering the growth of side branches. After the vegetative growth stage is finished, the plant is moved to the flower promotion stage for flower promotion treatment. The planting density of the plant in the flower promotion stage is 4 plants/m.sup.2. A distinguishment to the male and female flowers is required. The male flowers are removed, and the female plants is cultivated as before. The cultivation environment is set to have a day and night temperature at 24-26° C./21-22° C., humidity at 60-70%, CO.sub.2 concentration at 10000 ppm. Throughout the growth process, the LED light source is used to provide a light environment for the growth of the plant. An initial light intensity is set to 100 μmol/m.sup.2s. As the plant height increases, the light intensity reaches 550 μmol/m.sup.2s in the late stage, and the photoperiod is 12 h/d. Different LED light sources are provided in the following 4 control examples (Cont. Ex. 1-4) and 14 experimental examples (Exptl. Ex. 1-14). When harvesting, the levels of THC and CBD in the cannabis plants are determined, and the dry weight of the inflorescence is collected at the same time to calculate the yields of THC and CBD per plant. The experimental results are shown in Table 1.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Spectral composition and Peak characteristics X1, X2, X3, Ratio of Ratio of Ratio of 400-499 nm 500-599 nm 600-780 nm photons in photons in photons in Biological indicators 380-780 nm 380-780 nm 380-780 nm (X2 + CBD THF Inflorescence light source light source light source X3)/ level level DW CBD yield THC yield SN (%) (%) (%) X1 (%) (%) g/plant g/plant g/plant Cont. 6 24 70 15.67 9.94 3.42 135.26 13.44 4.63 Ex. 1 Cont. 25 24 51 2.04 9.68 3.39 128.42 12.43 4.35 Ex. 2 Cont. 7 38 55 13.28 10.15 3.45 134.07 13.61 4.63 Ex. 3 Cont. 27 18 55 2.70 9.55 3.34 126.45 12.08 4.22 Ex. 4 Exptl. 13 24 63 6.69 11.34 3.83 148.52 16.84 5.69 Ex. 1 Exptl. 11 24 65 8.09 11.06 3.75 151.34 16.74 5.68 Ex. 2 Exptl. 9.5 24 66.5 9.52 10.78 3.68 149.87 16.16 5.52 Ex 3 Exptl. 15 24 61 5.67 10.94 3.70 147.03 16.09 5.44 Ex 4 Exptl. 17 24 59 4.88 10.82 3.69 146.57 15.86 5.41 Ex 5 Exptl. 14 31 55 6.14 11.54 3.92 146.98 16.96 5.76 Ex 6 Exptl. 16 29 55 5.25 11.35 3.81 144.26 16.37 5.50 Ex 7 Exptl. 13.5 31.5 55 6.40 11.48 3.89 148.59 17.06 5.78 Ex 8 Exptl. 12 22 66 7.33 11.24 3.78 151.06 16.98 5.71 Ex 9 Exptl. 12 20 68 7.33 11.06 3.74 149.02 16.48 5.57 Ex 10 Exptl. 12 18 70 7.33 10.94 3.67 148.69 16.27 5.46 Ex 11 Exptl. 12 34 54 7.33 11.38 3.80 150.49 17.13 5.72 Ex 12 Exptl. 12 38 50 7.33 11.28 3.75 148.64 16.77 5.57 Ex 13 Exptl. 18 42 40 4.56 11.03 3.72 147.53 16.28 5.49 Ex 14

[0026] The results suggest that, compared with control examples 1-4, the light source in experimental examples 1-14 can greatly improve the levels of THC and CBD in cannabis plants, and at the same time increasing the yields of THC and CBD. In particularly, when (X2+X3)/X1=6.14, the levels and yields of THC and CBD are improved the most. Compared with control example 4, the levels of CBD and THC can be increased by up to 20.84% and 17.37%, respectively.

[0027] Although green light is a controversial light quality in the art, and some scholars even believe that the green light will inhibit the growth of plants, cause plants to be short and reduce the yield of leafy vegetables. However, in the present disclosure, a method of accurately regulating ratio of multi-band spectral is provided. A ratio of photon number between the sum of red (600-780 nm) light and green light (500-599 nm) to the blue light (400-499 nm) is regulated in a range from 4.5 to 9.6. Additionally, a ratio of the photon number between the blue light (400-499 nm) and the light source (380-780 nm) is in a range of 9.5-18.0%; a ratio of the photon number between the green light (500-599 nm) and the light source (380-780 nm) is in a range of 18-42%; a ratio of the photon number between the red light (600-780 nm) and the light source (380-780 nm) is in a range of 40-70%. Furthermore, the peak wavelength of the blue light lies at 450 nm; the peak wavelength of the green light lies at 526 nm; the peak wavelength of the red light lies at 660 nm. While maintaining the light intensity and other growth conditions, the accumulation of yields and/or levels of THC and CBD, cannabinoid substances in cannabis, can be greatly increased.

[0028] It should be noted that the aforementioned embodiments are merely preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and those embodiments are not to be deemed as limiting the scope of the invention. The scope of the disclosure should be limited by the by the scope of the claims. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other modifications and changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.