When referring to cannabis, many growers misuse the terms genotype, phenotype and chemotype. Keep reading to clear the confusion and end all the uncertainty surrounding this matter. 

What is a phenotype?

A cannabis plant’s phenotype, genetic code, and environment affect the genetic code’s profile and determine its physical appearance. Phenotypes emerge from interacting with a plant’s genetic blueprint and growing environment and define a range of possible genetic makeups. These genes are not activated solely because an organism possesses them; it is the environment that triggers a response.

Phenotypic plasticity refers to the physical variations that arise from exposure to various environmental conditions. A cannabis plant’s fragrance, colour, strength, resin production, and shape or size are phenotypes that are a product of the genotype and environmental factors. These factors can include light, air, water or nutrient levels. Different strains have different characteristics that people enjoy, and growers can grow particular strains with those components. One specific strain’s seeds will develop differently indoors rather than outdoors. Two parent plants of the strain produce seeds after a male plant fertilises a female plant and contain genetic phenotypes from both parent plants. 

How is a phenotype used?

Cannabis phenotypes are a tool used by growers to choose the strain with the best physical traits to express: The phenotype of a strain that offers the best yields, potency, colour, flavour, bud density, and other preferred characteristics will be chosen by growers after several seeds of that strain have been grown. For further production, growers can clone the desired strains from the phenotypes.

How to choose the best phenotype cannabis seeds

You will not be able to determine quality by only looking at a cannabis seed. At Mediseed Man, you receive the highest quality, reputable seeds in the Australian cannabis seed industry.

When growing plants from seed, there will often be a difference between each plant. Compared to a poorly bred seed, a well-bred strain will offer a more consistent range of results. With Mediseed Man’s seeds, you can cross cannabis strains to grow genetically distinct but related plants.

Considering Feminised Seeds

If you’re developing new cannabis strains or cannabis clones, selecting the best marijuana phenotype is crucial.

Going feminised checks two boxes at once and will help you have as slight variance as possible.

Although feminised seeds have phenotypes, they are less variable than cannabis seeds that contain both male and female cannabis. Feminine crops typically only have one parent.

Dormant genes are much less likely to interfere with your gardening goals and expectations.

Keep in mind that while using cannabis feminised seeds is much simpler, you will have fewer options.

What is a genotype?

A plant has all the genetic information necessary to determine its range of potential visual, physical, and growth characteristics in its seed before it even starts to grow. The cannabis cultivar’s complete set of genetic traits composed within its DNA is a genome. The DNA is a plant’s genome translated from proteins. Not all DNA affects the growth traits of the plant.

A plant’s genotype represents a range of potential traits it might display. For instance, two different cannabis plants from the same cultivar won’t have entirely similar characteristics but will share similar genotypes inherited from their shared mother plant. No two plants have the same genotype, except for clones, which have exact copies of the original genome.

The difference between a genotype and phenotype

Like every living thing, cannabis plants have a genetic code known as a genotype that describes the plant’s potential. It contains the traits that a particular cultivar can express while growing. During a cannabis plant’s life cycle, the phenotype refers to the distinguishable characteristics that a specific growing environment brings out. These environmental factors can include the aroma, flavour, strain effects or colour of the plant.

Firstly, to truly comprehend what this means, we can best relate to something we understand. The genetic makeup you inherited from your mother and father at birth is your genotype. Phenotypes are traits you develop over time due to the environment, stressors, and way of life you choose. There is nothing you can do to change this. 

 What are Chemotypes?

Chemotype plants’ most dominant compounds have similar appearances and different chemical profiles. Three types can recognise the way to distinguish cannabis profiles.

The first type is THC-dominant, with a concentration of >0.3% and CBD content of <0.5%.

Type two is a mixed ratio profile with CBD and THC in varying moderate concentrations, almost always presenting as CBD-forward.

Type three is a CBD-dominant with a low THC content, providing little to no intoxication.

When the environment doesn’t change, how is it possible for a strain to express different phenotypes?

Each cannabis seed has a distinct genotype. Many growers believe that seeds from the same cannabis strain have the same genetic code and, as a result, expect consistent growth. Unfortunately, this is a widespread assumption gone wrong. Many people use the word “phenotype” to refer to the different kinds of plants they grow from seeds of the same strain. Most people don’t realise they are referring to various genotypes. Phenotypic expression is the genotype as well as the environment.

When you buy seeds from a particular strain, you’ll get “family members” who share a large percentage of genetics with thousands of siblings but aren’t identical twins. Although the genotype is frequently very close to identical, there are still some differences, which you might compare to those between fraternal twins. As a result of the genotype of seeds not always being the same, every cannabis plant grown from seed exhibits slight variations in traits like plant height, yield, flavour, etc.

In conclusion, by choosing high-quality cannabis seeds from Mediseed Man and adjusting the growing environment to promote the traits you want to see, you can increase your chances of getting your perfect marijuana phenotype.

Learn the fundamentals of growing marijuana and familiarise yourself with the requirements of your chosen strain. To aid the environment in encouraging the genes in the right direction, adhere to these procedures as closely as possible and prevent beginner mistakes.