Recipient Organization
NORTH CAROLINA A&T STATE UNIV
1601 EAST MARKET STREET
GREENSBORO,NC 27411
Performing Department
Natural Resources & Environmental Design
Non Technical Summary
Industrial hemp or hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is an emerging crop that not only delivers seed, fiber and medicinal cannabidiol (CBD) but also has the potential to improve soil health and provide environmental benefits. This makes it desirable for the livelihood of sustainable and regenerative farmers interested to benefit from this multi-purpose crop. Since the legalization of hemp production in the 2018 United States Farm Bill Act, there has been an increasing interest among small scale limited resource farmers to adopt this crop for CBD production while maintaining legal limits of the psychoactive tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels within 0.3%. However, a critical knowledge gap is how to produce higher levels of value-added CBD hemp oil while implementing different climate adaptive sustainable soil management practices that not only incorporate organic amendments (e.g. cover crop residues, manure, compost) but also build soil health and minimize greenhouse gas emissions. The aim of this proposal is to develop scientific database regarding soil health and environmental benefits associated with CBD hemp production along with increased understanding of hemp agronomics and post-harvest CBD oil processing techniques. The overall goal of this project is to improve College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences' research capacity by developing a knowledge platform on sustainable CBD hemp production that would ultimately benefit the small-scale limited resource farmers interested in adopting this emerging high value crop.
Animal Health Component
40%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
40%
Applied
40%
Developmental
20%
Goals / Objectives
Hemp production has recently been the subject of increasing interest around the world, especially in the United States. Hemp is an unconventional crop with a broad spectrum of adaptation throughout North America. The diverse range of products that a hemp plant could produce has drawn the attention of a variety of industries. These include agriculture, textile, automotive, construction, biofuel, oil, cosmetics, pharmaceutical industry, etc. Many products can be derived from hemp, but the most enterprising situation for hemp in the USA is CBD extraction from hemp flowers for pharmaceutical uses. Hemp is also considered as an environmentally friendly and highly sustainable crop due to its potential to improve soil health and improve environmental quality. Although there is a renewed interest in the adoption of hemp; its production in the USA remains limited partly because of unclear agronomic guidance and post-harvest processing technologies especially for CBD hemp in different soil and environmental conditions. This proposal focuses on evaluating agronomic practices for hemp production that improve soil health and developing bioprocessing techniques for extraction and purification of cannabinoids. In the long run, this will promote and encourage the development of a sustainable and profitable hemp industry that will provide opportunities for farmers to benefit from this high value crop. The specific objectives of this proposal are:To evaluate different hemp varieties and organic fertility management regimes for high amounts of CBD production with a low percentage of THC (within 0.3%).To assess the impact of hemp biomass on biological soil health properties and greenhouse gas emissions.To extract and purify cannabinoids from hemp flowers.
Project Methods
A variety trial with CBD hemp varieties will be conducted at the experimental plots located at the NC A&T University farm. During the first year, 8-12 CBD yielding hemp varieties will be planted on ridges, 2-rows, 5 m long per variety, replicated in a randomized block design. Hemp clones will be planted in June and bud samples will be collected through flowering stage till maturity. Biomass yield will be measured 1) after drying and 2) after "curing", a drying process where the moisture is reduced to less than 50% and stabilized for storage.We will plant two best performing varieties with four different sources of organic nitrogen (N) fertilizer regimes 1) N from poultry litter + cover crop (crimson clover) residues, 2) N from poultry litter only and 3) N from compost + cover crop, 4) N from compost only and 5) control with chemical N fertilization. All fertilization rates will be equivalent to 100 kg available N ha-1. Soil and leaf samples will be analyzed for nutrients. Cannabinoids (CBD and THC) concentrations in the floral samples will be quantified in-house via GC FID measurement. Ethanol extraction technology and distillation system will be employed to optimize extract and purify cannabinoids specifically CBD from floral samples.In order to quantify temporal changes in soil biological properties associated with plant growth and rhizosphere development, soil rhizosphere samples will be collected from all the experimental treatments and biological soil health indicators like soil respiration, microbially active C and N, phospholipid fatty acid analysis (PLFA) and soil enzymatic activities will be analyzed. A soil laboratory incubation experiment will be designed to evaluate the effect of hemp biochar addition on greenhouse gas emissions using gas chromatography and soil microbiome using 16S sRNA sequencing.