Phenotypic plasticity is the capacity of a single cannabis genotype to produce different phenotypes in different environments. It is a large part of why Cannabis is so variable: much of the difference in height, form, flowering and chemistry between plants reflects the growing environment as well as inherited differences. Because the same genotype can look and yield differently from one site or season to the next, a plant's field appearance is an unreliable guide to its genetic makeup, which matters for how landraces are described, compared and conserved.
Plasticity is measured by growing the same genotypes across several environments and partitioning the variation into genetic, environmental and interaction components. The interaction term, genotype-by-environment interaction, captures the plastic response: how far genotypes rank or behave differently depending on where they are grown. read more →
