Effects of Mixing Ratio of Growing Media and Sand of Rooting Media, Coating with Rooting Hormone, and Sterilizing of Rooting Media on Characteristics of Hemp (Cannabis Sativa L.) Seedling

With medical use of hemp, many medicinal cultivars were bred worldwide. Propagating cultivar using seed has a high cost. On the other hand, vegetatively propagating cultivar has various merits including short breeding period and uniformity. This study aimed to determine optimal conditions for propagating hemp after cutting, including sterilizing of rooting media, rooting hormone, and mixing ratio of growing media and sand of rooting media. Korean landrace strain of hemp plant was grown in Wagner pot (size: 1/2,000 a) for 60 days. Its branches were cut to 70∼80 mm in length and used for cutting slips. The rooting medium, a horticultural nursery medium, was autoclaved for 3 hours at 120 ℃. The mixing ratio of sand and nursery media was 9:1, 7:3, 5:5, or 3:7 in weight. Cutting slips were coated with rooting hormone (1-naphthylacetamide 0.4%) just before planting. Cutting materials were planted in a tray pot of 72 cells and grown in a walk-in-chamber for 28 days with a temperature of 25 ℃ and an intensity of radiation of 800 μmol/㎡/sec. Seedling rates were 61.1%, 77.8%, and 63.0% for mixing ratios of 1:9, 3:7, and 5:5 of sand mixed with horticultural nursery medium. These seedling rates were significantly higher than a seedling rate of 31.5 % for a mixing ratio of 7:3. Root lengths were 97 mm, 91 mm, and 81 mm for mixing ratios of 1:9, 3:7, and 5:5 of sand mixed with horticultural nursery medium. These root lengths were significantly longer than a root length of 37 mm for a mixing ratio of 7:3. Rooting rates were 81.1 % and 91.2 % for slips coated with rooting hormone and sterilized rooting media, respectively. They were 40.0 % and 18.3 % for slips not coated with rooting hormone or sterilized rooting media, respectively. Thus, for vegetative propagating (cutting) of medicinal hemp, sterilizing of rooting media and coating slips with rooting hormone will be essential to conducting the propagation process.