Industrial Hemp Production in Western Australia
1Department of primary industries and regional development, 75 York Road, Northam, WA 6401, Australia
*Corresponding author: Shahajahan.miyan@dpird.wa.gov.au
Abstract
Industrial Hemp (IH) is the low tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) biotype of the Cannabis sativa L. species. It is a versatile and valuable crop with over 2000 known varieties that have been grown for centuries across Asia, Europe, and America. IH is currently cultivated predominantly for both fibre and seed and has a huge range of applications. IH growers are facing a wide range of choices of new varieties/lines both from Australia and overseas, but there is little information available about how these varieties perform in our local environments, and what is the most appropriate time of sowing. The Industrial Hemp Variety Trials program (IHVT) is an Australia wide program of industrial hemp trials, co-funded by AgriFutures and the Deaprtment of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD). The main objective of the trial was to investigate how the grain yield and quality of new IH varieties respond to different sowing times under irrigated conditions in the South of Western Australia.
A field trisal was conducted at the DPIRD, Manjimup Horticultural Research Institute under irrigated conditions during the 2022-23 growing season. Eight IH varieties were sown at time of sowing one and 11 hemp varieties in time of sowing 2, in a split plot design with three replications. Fisrt time of sowing (TOS1) commenced on 01 November 2022 and second time of swoing (TOS 2) on 24 November 2022. Varieties were from Australia, Canada, France, and Poland.
The plant establishment counts, plant counts at harvest, plant height, total dry matter production, grain yield, 1000-grain weight, grain bulk density, grain protein content, and grain oil content were collected and analysed using GenStat VSN International. There were significant differences in all observed parameters among industrial hemp varieties, but no significant differences between times of sowing except for total dry matter production, 1000-grain weight, and grain bulk density. There were interaction effects only for total dry matter production and grain bulk density. The grain yield was significantly different for hemp varieties but not for sowing times. The variety Bialobrzeskie produced the highest grain yield and the lowest grain yield was recorded by Rajan. Bialobrzeskie also had the highest oil and protein content, followed by Ruby, Rajan, Fedora-17 and X-59.
Key words: Industrial hemp