Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction of Cannabidiolic Acid from Cannabis Biomass.

Industrial hemp (Cannabis spp.) has many compounds of interest with potential medical benefits. Of these compounds, cannabinoids have come to the center of attention, specifically acidic cannabinoids. The focus is turning toward acidic cannabinoids due to their lack of psychotropic activity. Cannabis plants produce acidic cannabinoids with hemp plants producing low levels of psychotropic cannabinoids. As such, utilization of hemp for acidic cannabinoid extraction would eliminate the need for decarboxylation prior to extraction as a source for the cannabinoids. The use of solvent-based extraction is ideal for obtaining acidic cannabinoids as their solubility in solvents such as supercritical CO2 is limited due to the high pressure and temperature required to reach their solubility constants. An alternative method designed to increase solubility is ultrasonic-assisted extraction. In this protocol, the impact of solvent polarity (acetonitrile 0.46, ethanol 0.65, methanol 0.76, and water 1.00) and concentration (20%, 50%, 70%, 90%, and 100%) on ultrasonic-assisted extraction efficiency has been examined. Results show that water was the least effective and acetonitrile was the most effective solvent examined. Ethanol was further examined since it has the lowest toxicity and is generally regarded as safe (GRAS). Surprisingly, 50% ethanol in water is the most effective ethanol concentration for extracting the highest amount of cannabinoids from hemp. The increase in cannabidiolic acid concentration was 28% when compared to 100% ethanol, and 23% when compared to 100% acetonitrile. While it was determined that 50% ethanol is the most effective concentration for our application, the method has also been demonstrated to be effective with alternative solvents. Consequently, the proposed method is deemed effective and rapid for extracting acidic cannabinoids.

Negative effects of energy supplementation at peak lactation of sheep can be offset by the addition of Lactobacillus-fermented plant extracts.

Energy supplementation may reduce oxidative stress by correcting a negative energy balance, but in some contexts, it has been shown to increase oxidative stress, especially at peak lactation. The current experiment examined if a pelleted energy supplement with or without the addition of Lactobacillus-fermented seaweed or seaweed plus terrestrial plants extracts affected oxidative stress of ewes from late gestation through to weaning and ewe and lamb production from lambing to weaning. Treatments were either no supplement (CON-), a pelleted supplement only (CON+, 100 g/ewe per d), CON+ with seaweed extract only (SWO, 10 mL/ewe per day), or CON+ with seaweed plus an arrangement of terrestrial plant extract (SWP, 10 mL/ewe per d). Ewes (n = 160; mean initial BW = 72.3 ± 9.5 kg [mean ± SD]) were randomized to pastures (n = 4 pastures per treatment with 10 ewes each). After lambing, ewes with twins were reallocated to pastures (n = 3 pastures per treatment with 10 ewes each) according to lambing date. At 4 wk in milk, supplementation tended to reduce total antioxidant status (TAS; P = 0.10) and increased glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity compared with nonsupplemented ewes (P = 0.04). The addition of seaweed and terrestrial plants extracts to the concentrate, that is, SWO and SWP, increased TAS and reduced GPx activity compared with CON+ (P < 0.01). Supplementation increased milk yield at weeks 4, 6, and 8 of lactation, and protein, lactose, and total milk solids yield at peak lactation (week 4; P < 0.05). The CON- ewes had greater somatic cell count than the supplemented ewes at weeks 4, 8, and 10 of lactation (P = 0.03). Our results suggest that energy supplementation, alone, increases oxidative stress of lactating ewes, which may relate to increased oxidative phosphorylation. Most importantly, these results indicate that in situations where energy supplementation is needed to increase animal performance, negative effects of energy supplementation around peak lactation can be offset by the addition of Lactobacillus-fermented plant extracts (SWO and SWP) to improve antioxidant status.

Herbicide reduction through the use of weedmat undervine treatment and the lack of impact on the aromatic profile and volatile composition of Malbec wines.

Viticultural practices to control the undervine environment have relied on chemical herbicides. Herbicides usage has resulted in resistance by weeds, alterations in soil environments, as well as not meeting the needs of the organic market. Consequently, black and white weedmat was utilized to manage the undervine area over multiple vintages and its influence on the resultant wines examined. Apart from a difference in juice soluble solids, there was no impact on grape yield. In the 2017 vintage, black weedmat wines had the largest variation in aromatic profile when compared to control; additionally white weedmat was more closely related to the control. These differences had disappeared in the 2018 vintage with all wines having similar aromatic profile concentrations. Trained sensory panel could not discriminate treatment effects on wine flavor and aroma for either vintage. Ultimately, these findings support the use of weedmats in the viticulture setting to eliminate herbicide usage.