Regular seeds can be a good choice for growers with experience and specific goals in mind. Choosing this variety can help avoid the issue of growing male plants and producing smokable buds from hermaphrodite flowers by separating hermaphrodite and female plants early into flowering.
This can also allow the grower to create new strains based on their desired terpene profile and cannabinoid composition.
Breeding
If you’re going to be cultivating clones then skip the autoflowers and go for regular seeds. You’ll be able to select and take clones from your favourite strain, breed them to produce even more of what you love, and so on.
With regular seeds, you’ll also get the chance to grow hermaphrodite plants (both male and female). This is useful for growers that want to start breeding. Male plants can produce pollen that fertilizes the females, causing them to begin producing seed and not colas for smoking. This can be avoided by sexing the plants and isolating them early on in flowering.
Many growers prefer to use regular seeds as they provide the opportunity for natural selection and experimentation. They’re ideal for those that are looking to create their own bespoke strains that produce the specific terpenes and high they’re after. This is the only way to truly experience a cultivar’s full lineage and make the most of its genetic potential.
Cloning
Cloning is a natural form of reproduction that has enabled life forms to spread. Many plants and fungi form clonal colonies. Some vascular plants such as mosses and some grasses reproduce asexually by gemmae. And some monozygotic twins develop from a single fertilized egg cell.
Attempts to clone mammals have had mixed success. A baby guar, for example, was successfully cloned but died shortly after birth. Other attempts, such as cloning an endangered type of Asian wildcat, have not been successful.
Some critics have argued that reproductive cloning would amount to a kind of immoral eugenics, since it would provide parents with the option of selecting their children according to a variety of genetic characteristics. However, other critics have argued that cloning is not equivalent to past coercive forms of eugenics, and that it might prove to be a useful means of eliminating genetic diseases. Cloning could also be used in biomedical research, reducing the number of animals required for experiments, and thus helping to comply with the ethical principle of “the least harm.”
Genetic Stability
Genetic stability is a critical analytical attribute that needs to be assessed for all stages of production. This includes the characterization of the master cell bank, extended cell banks and complementing cells used for virus passages as well as for end-of-production cell banks.
These analysis are a requirement in order to demonstrate that inserted genes are transmitted to future generations and exhibit the intended traits. The molecular characterization includes tests for 1) sequence stability of the gene cassette, 2) inheritance pattern and 3) expression at the transcript (required only in a few geographies) and protein level.
To assess the inheritance stability of an inserted gene, it is necessary to perform chi-square analyses to compare the observed segregation patterns with those expected according to Mendelian principles. However, other factors such as DNA methylation and histone acetylation may alter the expression of an inserted gene. This is known as epigenetic regulation.
Yield
When it comes to cultivating cannabis, there are several options available. Whether it be autoflower, feminized or photoperiod (regular), each seed type offers its own advantages.
For experienced growers, regular seeds may be preferred because they are able to produce both male and female plants. This can be important for creating new strains, as it will allow you to cross them in order to obtain the desired terpene profile and cannabinoid composition.
In plant breeding, seed yield components are usually expressed as seed weight per flower head and floret number per flower head. However, these terms are often used interchangeably and the results of different studies may be difficult to compare. Furthermore, many of these seed yield components are affected by the number and size of florets, as well as by the rate of ripening. Therefore, it is important that researchers take these variables into account in their analyses of seed yields. (Oliva et al. 1994).
