The intersection of soil health and phytochemical expression in hemp cultivars

The recent rise in hemp cultivation in America marks a return to our country's agrarian beginnings. But, with the changes in access to the global market, hemp cultivators may struggle to find quantitative indexes to help grade the production of target phytochemicals like cannabigerol (CBG) and cannabidiol (CBD). With the support of Advanced Analytical Laboratories in Santa Rosa, California, researchers will delve into the soil health using elemental analysis and atomic spectroscopy powered by Shimadzu’s inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, ICPMS-2030. In order to probe phytochemical composition, researchers will be using a triple quadrupole liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer, Shimadzu’s LCMS-8060. 

It is our hope to discuss novel extraction protocols and detection methods as it pertains to hemp cultivation. In doing so, we hope to build a dataset of soil health, with concentrations of Phosphorus (P), Potassium (K), Magnesium (Mg), and Boran (B), and phytochemical composition, with the concentration of nine cannabinoids, six neutral cannabinoids (THC, CBD, CBC, CBG, CBN and CBDV) and three acidic cannabinoids (THCA CBGA and CBDA) along a hemp cultivar’s lifecycle. Using a univariate and multivariate regression analysis, we hope to provide predictive models for lifecycle outcomes, phytochemical expressions, and terpenoid expression.