Industrial Hemp Cultivar Evaluations in North Dakota.

Stand establishment is the first yield component for successful crop production, complicates pest and harvest management when stands are poor, is influenced by seed quality and field conditions, and varies with crops and varieties. Industrial hemp is prone to poor stand establishment even when field conditions are average to fair. Studies were conducted at Langdon, ND, in 2015 and 2016 to evaluate trait performance from stand establishment to harvest maturity and final grain and fiber yield in RCBD experiments with four replicates. Industrial hemp varieties sourced from Canada, France, and Australia, were evaluated for germination, live-seed emergence, seedling mortality, stand density, flowering, plant height, seed oil content, seed weight, THC tissue content, and grain, biomass, and fiber yield. In 2015, seedling mortality ranged from 48 to 82% when sown on May 27 under average conditions. Seedling mortality from June 5 seeding, in 2015, ranged from 91 to 97% and was greatly influenced by soil crusting from heavy rains. Reseeding on June 16 resulted in reduced seedling mortality ranging from 48 to 56% for the same varieties. Industrial hemp seedling mortality for nine varieties ranged from 39 to 58% and 64 to 72% from May 24 and June 20 seeding, respectively, in 2016, where later seeding received high rainfall that caused excessively wet soil conditions. Resulting industrial hemp plant densities were approximately 30 to 50% of ideal stands and produced comparable yields in 2015 to Canadian trials. Seed vigor and plant density studies are needed to provide producers with information to calibrated seeding rates to achieve optimum stands and yield performance.