Aurora Cannabis Receives Patent for Autoflowering Cannabis Detection

After several years’ of research, Aurora Cannabis has obtained a patent that enables it to better identify and select autoflowering traits in cannabis plants.

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The Aurora Cannabis Patent for Autoflowering Cannabis

In June 2024, Aurora was awarded US patent 12,002,546 for “methods of determining photoperiod sensitivity in cannabis”.

The Aurora patent, filed in April 2022, is the culmination of several years of research and innovation. The technology developed makes it possible to better identify and select autoflowering traits in cannabis plants, used, for example, to adapt cannabis cultivation to various environmental conditions.

Autoflowering cannabis plants differ from traditional cannabis in that they do not depend on changes in daylight (photoperiod) to enter the flowering phase. Instead, the transition takes place according to the age of the plant, making them ideal for outdoor cultivation in northern climates, where growing seasons are limited.

According to Jose Celedon, PhD, Director of Breeding and Genetics at Aurora, this development will be a game-changer for cannabis and hemp production. He stressed that Aurora’s investment in science has been crucial to this success, as the company has consistently advanced the cannabis industry through cutting-edge research.

Self-Flowering Outdoor Cannabis

The Aurora Cannabis development of autoflowering cannabis strains is based on crossing traditional high-THC cultivars with Cannabis Ruderalis, a cannabis subspecies native to Central and Eastern Europe, which has the ability to flower without depending on changes in photoperiod.

Self-flowering strains are particularly beneficial in northern climates like Canada, where the short growing season can limit production. By using these varieties, growers can maximize yield without being constrained by the natural daylight cycle. They are also used to complement regular varieties before or after the usual growing seasons.

The research Aurora made into autoflowering cannabis is focused on creating new commercial cultivars well adapted to the outdoor environment.

Aurora Cannabis Collaboration with Academic Institutions

In 2023, Aurora announced that it was teaming up with a UBC researcher to create cannabis better suited to outdoor production in Canada. The team would work to develop commercial cultivars more suitable for outdoor use by crossing so-called autoflowering traits with “elite” cannabis genetics.

Dr. Caledon, Director of Breeding and Genetics at Aurora Cannabis, is part of this program.

“As a science-based global cannabis company, we are proud to invest in the continued advancement of cannabis cultivation that will positively impact the longevity of the industry in Canada,” said Dr. Caledon ‘2023.

“Our long-standing relationship with UBC has enabled valuable collaborative work in the field of genomics. The shared results of the GIRAFF project will be applied to state-of-the-art cultivation practices at Aurora now and in the future, helping to make the industry more sustainable.”

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(Featured image by Sam Doucette via Unsplash)

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