Mechanism of control of pathogen infection in Cannabis sativa using copper ions

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Pathogen infection is one of the main problems in plant cultivation, especially when plants are cultivated indoors. With the legalization of cannabis, finding new ways to cultivate and protect the growth of cannabis plants will become increasingly important to the Canadian economy. Controlling pathogen infection in cannabis cultivation can prevent substantial yield loss and allow licensed producers to meet the requirements for the microbial counts set by Health Canada. Co-Terra is a Canadian R&D company developing various applications for control of pathogen infection in plants, including cannabis. Several products that Co-Terra is developing are based on the activity of Cu2+ ions; these products, including PX10, have been used in the past to control pathogen infection in fish and to control algae growth and reduce pathogen infection in sigatoka and papaya. This product has never been used in commercial greenhouse settings and has never been used for cannabis. Co-Terra is interested in testing PX10 for the control of infection in cannabis but the company currently has no license to work on cannabis. In contrast, our laboratory has the cannabis research license since 2016. It is not known whether PX10 would actually be capable to control infection in cannabis and what the active concentration would be. It is unknown whether such concentrations would be damaging to plants, and as a result may alter metabolic composition in these plants. We hypothesize that PX10 would be able to reduce the overall load of pathogens in growing cannabis and will have more substantial effect on specific groups of pathogens, such as bacteria, for example. We further hypothesize that the overall yield of flowers on treated plants will either not change or increase slightly. Furthermore, we hypothesize that the composition of metabolites, such as cannabinoids and terpenoids will not change in response to treatment with PX10. The project outcome will allow Co-Terra to develop a product suitable for the control of pathogens in cannabis. This information will give the company the possibility to apply this product for registration of approved chemicals for the control of pathogens in commercial cannabis operations.