Paper · 2026 · Agrosystems Geosciences & Environment

Effect of plant population on crop growth, floral biomass, and cannabinoid yield in field‐grown hemp

Richard J. Roseberg; Jake Hoyman; Govinda Shrestha

9
claims
18
verbatim quotes
0
citations
1
research areas
✓
Open access · cc-by

Abstract

Abstract Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.) was recently re‐legalized in the United States and cultivated for various purposes, including floral cannabidiol (CBD), grain, and fiber. Due to prohibition of hemp for a century, research supporting production guidelines, including plant density effects on CBD production, remains limited. This study determined the responses of field‐grown full‐season CBD hemp cultivars to plant stand densities ranging from 4000 to 86,000 plants ha −1 from 2021 to 2023 in a semiarid, irrigated environment in Southern Oregon. Crop measurements included primary, secondary (2° colas) and tertiary floral (3° colas) biomass, Stem+Leaf biomass, cannabinoid concentration, and cannabinoid yield. Over an eightfold increase in stand density each year, plant morphology clearly changed. Stem+Leaf biomass per plant decreased by about fourfold, expressed as smaller plants having fewer side branches. The biomass of 2° colas decreased by about fivefold per plant, while 3° cola biomass also decreased to nearly zero at the highest densities. The primary flower size varied little with density. Since floral CBD concentration was almost constant at all stand densities, the CBD yield per hectare was controlled by the yield of floral material. While the per‐plant biomass of floral material decreased as density increased, the simultaneous increase in plant number per hectare resulted in an apparent CBD “yield plateau” at a density of about 50,000–60,000 plant ha −1 for Stella and about 70,000–80,000 plant ha −1 for Lifter. These were 10–15 times the densities commonly seen in production fields in southern Oregon.

Abstract from the paper’s OpenAlex record; open copy licensed cc-by. Read at the source ↗

The text the model read, with the source record’s inline markup (italics, sub- and superscripts) rendered and its character entities decoded; quote offsets refer to the raw text.

Claims 9

Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Stem+Leaf biomass per plant decreased by about fourfold as stand density increased in hemp.

Treatment
stand densitye1
Outcome
Stem+Leaf biomass per plante1
Direction
decreasede1
Value
about fourfolde1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e1

“Over an eightfold increase in stand density each year, plant morphology clearly changed. Stem+Leaf biomass per plant decreased by about fourfold, expressed as smaller plants having fewer side branches. The biomass of 2° colas decreased by about fivefold per plant, while 3° cola biomass also decreased to nearly zero at the highest densities.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 716–1058 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

The biomass of 2° colas decreased by about fivefold per plant as stand density increased in hemp.

Treatment
stand densitye1
Outcome
biomass of 2° colase1
Direction
decreasede1
Value
about fivefolde1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e1

“Over an eightfold increase in stand density each year, plant morphology clearly changed. Stem+Leaf biomass per plant decreased by about fourfold, expressed as smaller plants having fewer side branches. The biomass of 2° colas decreased by about fivefold per plant, while 3° cola biomass also decreased to nearly zero at the highest densities.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 716–1058 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

3° cola biomass decreased to nearly zero at the highest stand densities in hemp.

Treatment
stand densitye1
Outcome
3° cola biomasse1
Direction
decreasede1
Value
nearly zeroe1
Qualifier
at the highest densitiese1

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e1

“Over an eightfold increase in stand density each year, plant morphology clearly changed. Stem+Leaf biomass per plant decreased by about fourfold, expressed as smaller plants having fewer side branches. The biomass of 2° colas decreased by about fivefold per plant, while 3° cola biomass also decreased to nearly zero at the highest densities.”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 716–1058 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultno effectmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Primary flower size varied little with plant density in hemp.

Treatment
densitye3
Outcome
primary flower sizee3
Direction
no_changeinferrede3

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e3

“The primary flower size varied little with density”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1059–1109 · show in text ↑
Intervention effectobservedoriginal resultno effectmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

Floral CBD concentration was almost constant across all stand densities in hemp.

Treatment
stand densitiese2
Outcome
floral CBD concentratione2
Direction
no_changeinferrede2

Not reportedComparator

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e2

“Since floral CBD concentration was almost constant at all stand densities, the CBD yield per hectare was controlled by the yield of floral material”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1111–1258 · show in text ↑
Mechanismauthor interpretationoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

CBD yield per hectare was controlled by the yield of floral material in hemp.

Outcome
CBD yield per hectaree2
Qualifier
controlled by the yield of floral materiale2

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e2

“Since floral CBD concentration was almost constant at all stand densities, the CBD yield per hectare was controlled by the yield of floral material”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1111–1258 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

CBD yield reached an apparent plateau at about 50,000–60,000 plants per hectare for Stella.

Material
Stellae4
Outcome
yield plateaue4
Value
50,000–60,000 plant ha −1e4

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e4

“the simultaneous increase in plant number per hectare resulted in an apparent CBD “yield plateau” at a density of about 50,000–60,000 plant ha −1 for Stella and about 70,000–80,000 plant ha −1 for Lifter”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1339–1542 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

CBD yield reached an apparent plateau at about 70,000–80,000 plants per hectare for Lifter.

Material
Liftere4
Outcome
yield plateaue4
Value
70,000–80,000 plant ha −1e4

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e4

“the simultaneous increase in plant number per hectare resulted in an apparent CBD “yield plateau” at a density of about 50,000–60,000 plant ha −1 for Stella and about 70,000–80,000 plant ha −1 for Lifter”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1339–1542 · show in text ↑
Observationobservedoriginal resultmeasured

Claim · model-written summary

The yield plateau densities were 10–15 times the densities commonly seen in production fields in southern Oregon.

Outcome
densitiese5
Value
10–15 timese5
Comparator
densities commonly seen in production fieldse5
Setting
southern Oregone5

Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.

Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa
Cannabis sativa subsp. sativa · TaxonNo machine-readable author provided. Bastique assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons ↗

Verbatim

e0

“Hemp ( Cannabis sativa L.)”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 9–35 · show in text ↑
e5

“These were 10–15 times the densities commonly seen in production fields in southern Oregon”

✓ located verbatim in the source · abstract, characters 1544–1634 · show in text ↑

density · molecular: metabolites · Cannabis sativaPositive and negative results

4 papers: 1 positive, 3 negative or no effect

2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction

  1. positive
  2. no effect
  3. no effect
See all 4 papers →

density · growth · Cannabis sativaPositive and negative results

6 papers: 4 positive, 2 negative or no effect

1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 4 in the opposite direction

  1. positive
  2. positive
  3. positive

2 papers more in this group

See all 6 papers →

Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.