This study is aimed at testing the efficiency of
colchicine on inducing
polyploidy in Cannabis sativa L. and investigation of effects of
polyploidy induction on some primary and secondary metabolites. Shoot
tips were treated with three different concentrations of
colchicine (0, 0.1, 0.2 % w/v) for 24 or 48 h. The biggest proportion of the almost coplanar
tetraploids (43.33 %) and mixoploids (13.33 %) was obtained from the 24-h treatment in 0.2 and 0.1 % w/v, respectively.
Colchicine with 0.2 % concentration and 48 h duration was more destructive than 24 h. The ploidy levels were screened with flow cytometry. The biochemical analyses showed that reducing
sugars, soluble
sugars, total
protein, and total
flavonoids increased significantly in mixoploid plants compared with
tetraploid and diploid plants.
Tetraploid plants had a higher amount of total
proteins, total
flavonoids, and
starch in comparison with control plants. The results showed that polyploidization could increase the contents of
tetrahydrocannabinol in mixoploid plants only, but
tetraploid plants had lower amounts of this substance in comparison with diploids. Also, we found such changes in
protein concentration in electrophoresis analysis. In overall, our study suggests that tetraploidization could not be useful to produce
tetrahydrocannabinol for commercial use, and in this case, mixoploids are more suitable.