Genotyping and breeding new hemp varieties

大麻是人类最早种植的植物之一。可以说，它也是最通用的植物之一，能够为我们提供高质量的食物、饲料、药品、衣服和住所。同时，由于多年的限制，大麻在包括遗传和表型变异在内的所有水平上的研究都严重不足。因此，新品种的遗传辅助育种受到严重阻碍。我们正在与加拿大最大的大麻种子生产商之一Terramax公司合作，研究各种大麻品种的基因组学和表型学变异，开发有效的基因分型和去基因分型技术，以及遗传学和表观遗传学辅助育种方法。我们的目标是培育几个具有改良性状的大麻品种，如种子产量、生物量、油脂和蛋白质含量、抗病性和抗旱性等。该项目具有多项重要的智力、经济、社会、教育和环境效益。它将有助于开发和推广与大麻有关的最具可持续性的农业和保健产品之一，包括食品（油、蛋白质、纤维）、结构材料（纤维）、药品（注入生物碱的油）和许多其他产品。

Cannabis sativa is one of the oldest cultivated plants by humankind. Arguably, it is also one of the mostversatile plants that are able to provide us with high-quality food, feed, medicine, clothing and shelter. At thesame time, due to years of restriction, hemp is severely understudied at all levels including genetic andphenotypic variations. As a result, genetics-assisted breeding of new cultivars is significantly hampered. Weare partnering with Terramax Corporation, one of the largest hemp seed producers in Canada, to studyvariations in genomics and phenomics of various hemp cultivars and to develop efficient genotyping andepigenotyping techniques as well as genetics- and epigenetics-assisted breeding approaches. We aim to initiatebreeding several hemp varieties with improved traits, such as seed yield, biomass, the oil and protein content,pathogen and drought tolerance among others. The project has several important intellectual, economic, social,educational and environmental benefits. It will contribute to the development and promotion of one of the mostsustainable agricultural and health products associated with Cannabis, including food (oil, proteins, fiber),structural materials (fibers), medicines (oils infused with alkaloids) and many other products.