CULTURAL MANAGEMENT, PRODUCTION, AND CONSUMER SENSORY EVALUATION OF BABY LEAF HEMP (Cannabis sativa L.) AS AN EDIBLE SALAD GREEN
Hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) has long been used throughout the world, especially as a fiber and grain crop. Baby leaf hemp as an edible salad green has become a new niche greenhouse crop grown in New York State. However, there is no scientific information about cultural information or consumer sensory attributes of baby leaf hemp. Therefore, the objective of this thesis was to study several cultural factors (cultivar selection, sowing density, seed size, fertilization, and use of biostimulants) as well as conduct consumer sensory evaluation. In baby leaf hemp, cultivar significantly affected fresh weight (FW) (6.93 g·cell-1 to 10.33 g·cell-1) and germination percentage (51% to 81%). The FW and fresh weight per plant (FWPP) were quadratically increased and decreased, respectively, as the sowing density increased from 0.65 to 2.85 seeds·cm-2. The largest sized seeds (sieve size 9.5, >3.77 mm diameter) increased the FW up to 35% from nonsorted seed lots. The largest FW in conventional and organic treatments were 246% and 166% greater than control (no fertilization), respectively for cultivar ‘Picolo’. No biostimulant effects were found in the biological products tested in enhancing germination or growth of baby leaf hemp under my experimental conditions. A sensory lexicon and wheel were developed for baby leaf hemp and compared with other popular baby greens by Generalized Procrustes Analysis. Cultivar ‘Picolo’ probably had the most pleasant flavor among other baby leaf hemp. In general, for high productivity, I recommend use of cultivar ‘Picolo’ where the seed size is screened to remove the lowest seed size categories and seeded at 2.3 to 2.85 seeds·cm-2 sowing density with conventional liquid fertilizers.