A federally funded study recently published by the Journal of Medicinally Active Plants demonstrates that soil health has a direct impact on cannabinoid and terpene profiles in at least two cannabis varieties. If the study’s findings hold true across the entire cannabis spectrum, it could have implications for medical cannabis patients.
A Summary of the Study
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture collaborated with Penn State College of Medicine and PA Options for Wellness on the study. Conducted by researchers from Penn State University, the study looked specifically at two cannabis cultivars: Tangerine and CBD Stem Cell.
Without getting into all the details, researchers learned that soil health has a direct impact on both THC and CBG. Cannabis terpenes were also impacted. Soil health was based on conventional tillage practices. Here is what they learned:
- Good soil health produces plants with higher levels of CBG or CBD
- Poor soil health produces plants with higher levels of THC
- Different soil practices, like cover cropping, reduce genetic differences in terpene profiles
It should be noted that the two crops studied for this research were grown outdoors in neighboring fields. Outdoor grows are exposed to significantly more environmental factors than their indoor counterparts. Nonetheless, soil quality can still be manipulated in indoor grows. So the research could have a significant impact on medical cannabis.
Cannabinoid and Terpene Profiles
Beehive Farmacy is a Utah medical cannabis pharmacy operating in Brigham City and Salt Lake City. They explain that the most important aspect of the research has to do with cannabinoid and terpene profiles. They say cannabinoids and terpenes are what medical patients are after.
Both THC and CBD offer therapeutic benefits. In recent years, Beehive Farmacy says both growers and processors have been experimenting with different combinations of cannabinoids and terpenes to create specific therapeutic effects for patients. It is an ongoing science with plenty of room for growth.
With the understanding that soil health can make a difference, growers and processors now have another avenue for customizing cannabinoid and terpene profiles. This could open the door to growing highly customized cultivars aimed at addressing specific symptoms.
Higher Concentrations of THC
The research could potentially explain why modern cannabis is more likely to have a higher THC concentration than cannabis plants from decades ago. In the wild, one would expect soil health to be optimal. Nature does its work, and soil is as it should be. But in a controlled agricultural environment, one would expect less-than-optimal soil quality.
The implications could once again impact medical cannabis patients. Manipulating soil health could theoretically produce higher concentrations of THC. This could subsequently lead to more potent medicines that prove far more effective in future years.
On the other hand, there are legitimate questions about the impacts of high potency cannabis on human health. Most of what we know regarding cannabis’s long-term side effects is based on conventional plants grown in outdoor settings. We still lack a thorough understanding of high-potency plants grown under controlled circumstances.
More Work to Do
There is certainly more work to do in the pursuit of comprehensive cannabis knowledge. The more we learn about the plant, the more we discover its therapeutic potential. But as with everything else that can affect human health, caution is warranted.
It appears as though soil health impacts cannabinoid and terpene profiles. So now it is up to the industry to find ways to use the knowledge to create better medicines. After all, medical cannabis is really about the cannabinoids and terpenes.
