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Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Regulation of secondary metabolism in Cannabis sativa L. by abscisic acid and water deficit during early flower development and after recovery
Plant stress, Vol.18, pp.1-9
12/2025
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Abstract
Female cannabis (Cannabis sativa L.) flowers produce medicinally important secondary metabolites in the form of cannabinoids and terpenes. Cannabis has been demonstrated to be moderately drought tolerant; it can recover from short-term drought experienced in late flowering without lasting negative impact and this treatment can increase content of cannabinoids. In this study, we tested short-term drought stress (i.e. water deficit (WD)) and abscisic acid (ABA) treatments during early flowering followed by a prolonged recovery period until harvest time (floral maturity). Floral content of cannabinoids and terpenes were quantified during treatment and at postrecovery harvest. Plant morphology was measured at harvest. Results showed that cannabinoids decreased while sesquiterpenes increased during early flowering WD, whereas ABA treatment only caused cannabinoids to decrease. At harvest, cannabinoids were no longer negatively affected in recovered WD and ABA treated plants,
with cannabigerolic acid (CBGA) higher in both treatments than in controls. Monoterpenes increased in content in the WD plants at harvest. These results showed that cannabis secondary metabolic drought response is developmentally dependent because the findings differed from those observed in the same experimental system
during late-flowering drought treatments. By comparing drought and ABA treatments we observed that terpene metabolism during drought is controlled by ABA-independent regulation pathway. Finally, results from postdrought recovery confirmed the drought resilience of cannabis as there was no loss in biomass, while secondary metabolic content was elevated.
Details
- Title
- Regulation of secondary metabolism in Cannabis sativa L. by abscisic acid and water deficit during early flower development and after recovery
- Creators
- Nicolas Dimopoulos - Southern Cross UniversitySarah Jane Purdy - New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (Australia, Tamworth)Lei Liu - Southern Cross UniversityRazlin Azman Halimi - Southern Cross UniversityBronwyn J. Barkla - Southern Cross UniversityTobias Kretzschmar - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- Plant stress, Vol.18, pp.1-9
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V.; AMSTERDAM
- Grant note
- The authors declare that Cann Group Ltd. was a funding partner for this project through the CRC-P program.
- Identifiers
- 991013323327802368
- Copyright
- © 2025 The Authors.
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Science
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article