Far-Red Light Boosts THC In Some Cannabis Strains And Lowers Energy Use, Study Finds
Far-red lights can improve yield and the quality of specific cannabis strains, and reduce energy costs and carbon emissions amid energy-intensive cannabis cultivation, according to a new study.
Published in Nature this week, this Australian government-funded study, conducted by researchers from the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development and Southern Cross University, analyzed whether the daily light period to which cannabis plants were exposed could be shortened from 12 to 10 hours by supplementing with far-red light, without sacrificing plant yield or cannabinoid content.
The findings suggest that far-red light treatments sometimes enhanced cannabinoid yield in specific strains and, when paired with a 10-hour light schedule, offered about 5.5% energy savings.
This would be significant for high-consuming cannabis farming. Cannabis growers in the U.S. use about 1% of the country's total energy, which is more than cryptocurrency mining and all other crops combined, according to a recent study.
Far-red light, which sits just beyond the visible spectrum, naturally occurs in sunlight during the early hours of the morning, late in the afternoon, and in shaded spots. Plants have evolved to recognize this kind of light as a cue that they may be shaded by other plants, prompting them to grow taller in search of more sunlight. When far-red light is paired with regular red or white light, it doesn't just trigger growth, but it also enhances photosynthesis. This effect, known as the Emerson enhancement effect, highlights how plants can make more efficient use of different light wavelengths when they work in combination.
The research team explored several lighting schedules across three cannabis strains: Cannatonic, known for its high CBD content, and Hindu Kush and Northern Lights, both rich in THC. They compared a traditional 12-hour light cycle with a shortened 10-hour version, along with variations where far-red light was introduced, either at the end of the light phase, the start of the dark phase, or both. In addition to observing changes in plant height, they measured total biomass, which included flowers, leaves, and stems, and analyzed the concentration of various cannabinoids.
The results showed that adding far-red light made all the cannabis plants grow taller, especially when the light was used at the end of the day or both before and after lights-off. In some strains, like Cannatonic and Hindu Kush, far-red light combined with a full 12-hour light cycle increased the total weight of the plants, but most of that extra weight came from leaves and stems, not flowers. In fact, flower weight decreased in these cases.
The way cannabinoids responded also depended on the strain. Cannatonic had the highest levels of CBD and THC when grown under a regular 12-hour light cycle or when far-red light was added at both ends of the day, but this did not lead to a clear increase in the total amount of cannabinoids per plant, and flower size often dropped. Hindu Kush showed some THC increases with far-red light, especially when it was used both before and after the lights went off. Northern Lights performed better using far-red light right after the main lights turned off, as it led to a strong boost in THC and a 70% increase in total cannabinoid yield compared to the regular light schedule.
Researchers, therefore, suggest that growers could increase the potency of these specific cannabis strains while reducing lighting time and carbon footprint by using far-red light.
As these effects were seen only in specific cannabis strains, growers should test for themselves whether far-red light works on other strains.
Nevertheless, the use of far-red light could potentially help reduce the carbon footprint and make cannabis growing more sustainable, while also maintaining or even boosting yield and quality, and reducing energy costs.
'These findings have significant implications for the cannabis industry, specifically for energy consumption, with electricity being a significant cost for cultivation. Consequently, the preference is to achieve productivity improvements without extending, and ideally reducing, the duration of the artificial lighting period,' the study reads.
This is not the first time that the use of far-red light in farming has been studied. Some research shows that its use produced taller cannabis plants but decreased yields, while another study on far-red light in lettuce cultivation showed that intermittent supplementation of far-red light accelerated leaf and bud development, leading to increased yields.
This study is in line with others that have analyzed the use of far-red light when growing cannabis. Some research shows that its use produced taller cannabis plants but decreased yields, while others have found that using far-red light in cannabis farming increased plant height but also decreased both flowering and the concentrations of cannabinoids like CBD, THCVA, CBGA, and terpenes in the flowers, compared to a high red-light ratio.
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