The Afghan Landrace Gene Pool Left Behind
According to a UN report on cannabis cultivation in Afghanistan (2006-2010), the national harvest typically takes place between September and December, with most provinces peaking around November and December.
The widely accepted claim that subspecies Cannabis indica finishes withing 7-9 weeks isn’t entirely false, but it’s an oversimplification. Which came from growing and breeding Cannabis indoors, in prohibition period, which also resulted in compromised diversity and selection for discrete growing, suppression of growth etc.
A number of important traits were neglected in the effort to select primarily for shorter photoperiod response in Cannabis indica, pushing plants to mature earlier. Over time, this short-sighted focus shaped the modern ‘indica’ narrative and led to a misrepresentation of the broader genetic diversity within the gene pool. The results of Western breeding do not represent the full spectrum of the Afghan indica heritage.
What happened to the diversity in modern day Indica gene pool? You are definitely missing out what has been excluded from the Ancestral parent of modern-day Cannabis Indica Plants.
Afghani domesticated landrace gene-pool from the origin is far diverse than the streamlined version of modern day, described as early flowering short and squat specimens.