Cannabis cultivation could be changed through auto-flowering research by a Comox company.
Aurora Cannabis, a Canadian-based global medical cannabis company, is looking into auto-flowering, a genetic characteristic that transitions plants from the vegetative state to the flowering state based on light sensitivity.
Vice-president of science innovation at Aurora Lana Culley says when they started this project, the focus was on outdoor cultivation of cannabis to grow low-cost cannabis in Canada.
“Because of Canada’s northern latitude, we are limited in how much time you can have to allow cannabis to mature in our regions, there’s only a small portion of Canada where you can grow cannabis outdoors,” said Culley. “If we could identify what genetically controls that flowering trigger, we could develop cultivars that can automatically pivot to that flowering after some time and help them come to maturity before the frost hits.”
Culley says the research found what those controls were and helped them identify genetic markers to quickly screen thousands of plants to find which ones are auto-flowering. This would help them make cultivars that grow outside.
For this project, they got a U.S. patent called Methods of Determining Sensitivity to Photoperiod in Cannabis issued, which Culley says helps them exclude competitors from using the same technology for their own programs.
“We know other companies in the U.S. and all over the world are focused on this type of research and technologies, so this gives Aurora a step ahead,” said Culley. “We are very proud and gratified with this milestone.”
She says with this research, they hope it can bring a large leap forward in growing cannabis cultivars outdoors.
They also aim to continue giving products to consumers and patients in need of medical cannabis.
