Dinamed: CBD dominant strains are coming

It all started with the germination and cultivation of a very high number of regular seeds of Dancehall. Dinafem’s main breeder, Professor OG, had purchased them directly from Jimi of Reggae Seeds, in a visit that was covered in our previous articles. All plants grown from these seeds were analysed by the Dinafem lab, which operated uninterruptedly, day and night, for the full week. Most males contained around 2% of CBD, but there was one that peaked at 5%. This super-male was used in the pollination of one of the selected females with a CBD:THC ratio of 20:1, with CBD exceeding 19.5% and THC equal to less than 0.85%. These females too stood out due to their size and smell. A batch of seeds were obtained from the crossbreed and were used by the bank for breeding purposes. [caption id="attachment_6180" align="alignnone" width="500"] The dried buds of Dinamed have an excellent appearance.[/caption]

Selection made in grow rooms for the production of extracts

During this season, two members of the Dinafem team, Captain Ozone and Mr. A, grew a crop for the in-house no-profit production of medical extracts to be administered to patients. Plants were taken care of and fertilised with this medical use in mind, which is why the team used ecological fertilisers, substrate-wash solutions, etc... As genetic base, they used their recently created CBD-dominant hybrid. Since this crop was not designed for breeding purposes, they did not apply the intensive testing protocol. In any case, they realised that some specimens had a really outstanding quality and so they were tempted to make a selection of their favourites, while excluding hermaphrodite traits in the gene pool. The common features of the selected plants were a remarkable taste and a need for minimum care and soft fertilisation. They were structured with a central shoot and rare lateral branches, all of these features were then handed down to their offspring. The crop was then tested and confirmed as CBD-dominant. About this crop, Mr. A observes: “The original purpose was a medicinal plant crop, we never thought about breeding, but the results of tests made were indeed remarkable. Some specimen were really outstanding. We regretted having processed all the plants, which is why we went to the grow rooms and selected our favourites based on a purely intuitive criterion, we chiefly judged them on the basis of aspect, smell, resin and yield. I remember they were very nice specimens, with purple tones and satisfactory sizes. The tests found very low THC levels, with an average CBD rate of 10 to 12%, CBD:THC ratios varied between 10:1, 15:1 and even 20:1”

How the Dinamed strain was designed

Ever since our first visit to Reggae Seeds, Professor OG has always confessed his intention to design a pure CBD strain for patients in need. The risk with regard to selling a pure CBD strain lies in the fact that they can be copied immediately. For instance, a few seasons ago, Dinafem introduced important improvements to its autos. After only a few months, they were copied; competitors bred new strains by using seeds from the packs sold by Dinafem to consumers. [caption id="attachment_6181" align="alignnone" width="500"] The CBD market is skyrocketing, but quality genetics is missing.[/caption] In order to solve this problem, Professor OG designed a CBD-dominant strain with an average CBD content close to 10% rather than to 20%. This means that other seed banks could use it to breed a CBD-dominant plant but no quality 1/1 hybrid since; in order to do so, a THC dominant strain needs to be crossed with another CBD-dominant plant with a nearly similar cannabidiol content. In other words, a CBD-dominant plant with roughly 10% CBD content should be crossed with another with roughly 10% THC content, for the average content of cannabinoids not to be very high. On making this decision, Professor OG met with a problem. Hitherto, all CBD dominant females kept as mothers were meant for the breeding of 1/1 hybrids with the highest cannabinoid content. Consequently, CBD levels were around 20% and, for the project to be initiated, another massive selection was required that involved a few months of work. When he made the rest of his team aware of this problem, Captain Ozone and Mr. A remembered having kept mothers with medium CBD levels. Ultimately, they used these as a genetic base for the breeding of Dinamed. In clones, the measured CBD levels were above 10%, or even 14% in specimens grown from seeds, while the measured THC level was around 0.5%, or 1% maximum in a few cases. For this reason, they declared a minimum CBD:THC ratio of 10/1.

Dinamed and corporate social responsibility

When Dinamed was marketed, the seed bank did not merely intend to offer another strain or introduce another novel hybrid, its purpose was much more important, i.e. to help patients, even at the risk of encouraging other banks to copy its project. As Professor OG puts it: “When they use cannabis, pharmaceutical companies merely want to gain monopolies. They chiefly rely on profit-making criteria and overlook patients’ hardships, let alone the need to improve the genetic base of cannabis. Ever since the 1980s, through Mechoulam’s research papers, we known that CBD dominant strains can help people who are affected by severe diseases, such as childhood epilepsy, but little advances were made in the improvement of patients’ quality of life. If a seed bank can contribute to that improvement, this means it has a corporate social responsibility. I would have pangs of conscience if, despite my power to help children with epilepsy through my breeding work, I avoided doing so for the sake of my profits. We are aware they will copy us, but this is a risk worth running if this means helping children in need and we will also push the cannabis industry towards a virtuous direction. We are naturally inclined towards helping people, this is our very first contribution towards corporate social responsibility, but there will be more.” [caption id="attachment_6182" align="alignnone" width="500"] Oil extracted from Dinamed for medicinal use.[/caption] In his objective to help patients, the professor received full backing from Dinafem. One of the bank’s founders, Pablo, explained: “20 years ago, when we set out to build a cannabis business, the medicinal aspect was not part of our goals. There were customers saying they used cannabis for medical purposes but I could not understand them. Next, I heard further stories from more and more people and I became convinced about the medicinal properties of cannabis. For instance, when Professor OG decided to breed and market a CBD-dominant strain, I had just met a father whose son was suffering from the Dravet syndrome. He told me his son had several attacks during the day and each of these could potentially be the last opportunity to see him alive. I have a son of similar age and felt empathy when I heard this story. In one of our exhibitions, I later met a Canadian aged 27 who was affected by epilepsy and said he no longer needed to take pills after using cannabis. We earned some money from our sales of seeds. Now that the therapeutic market is opening up and we see there are no suitable seeds on the market, even if we are not targeting profits, we have a moral obligation to market these pure CBD seeds for them to be safely used.” Dinamed is, first and foremost, a challenge; it means giving a proper genetic base to the newborn CBD industry. As Professor OG observed: “Over the last few years, medicinal cannabis, i.e. the most appreciated side of the cannabis industry, has grown significantly. Patients worldwide need CBD, but Epidiolex is no solution, this is just a very expensive treatment and out of many patients’ reach. As for CBD oils currently on the market, many of these products are of low quality, have inadequate concentrations and even traces of solvents and other contaminants. CBD will help people in many respects, ranging from medical/pharmaceutical use through cosmetic applications to recreational use. The CBD industry is growing more and more and, based on the most recent estimates, it is worth billions of euros. Concurrently, we are faced with the great paradox that the availability of quality CBD-dominant seeds is quite poor, but seeds are the real base of the cannabis industry.” [caption id="attachment_6183" align="alignnone" width="500"] Dinamed structure.[/caption]

Conclusions

The emergence of Dinamed on the market implies a great change in the medicinal cannabis segment, this new strain offers a dominant CBD ratio (CBD:THC) of around 10:1, while having excellent values for all other parameters. Those who need a CBD dominant strain can now already grow it without needing additional tests, as CBD dominance has fully stabilised in the offspring. This will allow patients to access high quality CBD and make extracts, whose effects will be even better than those obtained with CBD oils extracted from industrial hemp. It will also have recreational applications. For instance, in Switzerland, sales of flowers high in CBD have skyrocketed – their taste is good and they have a soft effect, which a few consumers prefer to that of THC. [caption id="attachment_6184" align="alignnone" width="500"] Dinamed tends to form a nice central shoot.[/caption] Professor OG is normally quite humble and avoids any self-celebration, but about Dinamed he is quite sure: “I can guarantee it is the best option for a patient who needs a CBD-dominant strain and has no time or means to analyse it. What is more, it is a quality plant in many respects, as its parents were selected based on such criteria as smell, taste and aspect.” H. Madera