AN ELICITATION STRATEGY TO IMPROVE HEMP SECONDARY METABOLITES ACCUMULATION

BACKGROUND: Hemp, Cannabis sativa L., is a commercial crop well known for industrial, food, medical and recreational applications. Its female inflorescences accumulate a large number of bioactive secondary metabolites (SMs), including phenols, cannabinoids and terpenoids. In plants, SMs usually occur at low concentrations and their synthesis is induced by adverse stimuli. A strategy to raise SMs content is the use of elicitors, molecules able to trigger the plant defence response. Specifically, the jasmonate-related phytohormones (jasmonic acid, JA and methyl jasmonate, MeJA) have been reported to positively stimulate secondary biosynthetic pathways workflows, leading to increased production of various SMs. OBJECTIVES: The optimization of SMs hemp productivity (total phenols, cannabinoids and terpenoids) through methyl jasmonate elicitation strategy based on the use of two MeJA concentrations, 1 mM and 10 mM, or the use of chitosan nanoparticles charged with 1 mM MeJA.