Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) is a plant from the hemp family. It is cultivated as a useful plant, but can also be used for horticultural purposes. Cannabis has a very wide range of uses; in medicine it is particularly interesting because of the cannabinoids, which are mainly contained in the inflorescences. In the field experiment, female plants were treated with silver compounds at two different times, with different concentrations of STS (silver thiosulphate) and colloidal silver, with the aim of inducing male flowers. With this experiment, we wanted to find out whether the time of treatment and the type/concentration of silver compounds had an influence on the occurence of male flowers, the degree of masculinization and the ratio of male/female flowers. We also investigated the effects on seed yield and germination. We found that the earlier treatment period was more effective than the later one (14 days delay), as the degree of masculinization was higher and the proportion of male flowers in the inflorescences was also higher. The use of colloidal silver did not trigger the formation of male flowers. Regarding the STS concentrations used, we found that the final amount of STS is less important than the fact that the treatment is repeated several times. Higher concentrations of STS have been shown to have a greater effect on the appearance of male flowers than lower concentrations. Plants that were more masculinized produced fewer seeds with poorer germination.
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