Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Lysosome
Vacuoles
Ribosomes
Cytoplasm
Plant cell wall
Nucleus
Chloroplast
Mitochondria
Endoplasmic
reticulum
Plasmodesmata
Cellular membrane
DNA
Fig. 3.5.
The plant cell (from
http//www.gnis.fr).
3. New openings for industrial hemp usage
will need to take into account the uses that can
be made of other hemp products, most notably
hemp seeds and chopped hemp.
It is this characteristic that has resulted in 'can-
nabis' becoming the most popular and heavily
used illicit product in France, according to the
Observatoire Français des Drogues et des
Toxicomanies (OFDT;
http://www.ofdt.fr/
ofdt/fr/pt_canna.htm)
(Bello
et al
., 2003).
Despite the controversy surrounding can-
nabis usage, it continues to attract attention
from researchers seeking to investigate its
therapeutic potential (Iversen and Chapman,
2002; Berman
et al
., 2004). That said, the
popular claims that cannabis is an innocuous
product should not be muddled with those of
the scientific and medical communities, who
recognize its therapeutic potential while
remaining wary of the dangers associated with
its use (
http://www.drogues.gouv.fr).
3.4.2 Chemistry and biochemistry
of useful hemp-derived products
Hemp has probably been cultivated in Asia
since 5000
BC
. It is only much more recently
that this tradition arrived in Europe, where
hemp is thought to have been introduced and/
or domesticated in France and Germany
during the Iron Age (700
BC
).
Globally, the way in which hemp has been
used has changed little. Fibres are used for the
production of various materials including rope,
textiles, sails and stuffing. Seeds are destined
for human and animal consumption but can
also be used to produce oil, either for use as an
edible oil, as a drying oil in paints or occasion-
ally for fuel. Flowers and leaves are used as psy-
chotropes and for their therapeutic properties
(as narcotics, analgesics and antispasmodics).
Modern industrial technology has, of course,
allowed humans to exploit the intrinsic properties
of the various hemp products better but has had
little effect on the end use of these products.
The biochemical properties of hemp
include those associated with the cannabinoids,
certain of which possess psychotropic properties.
Stem fibres
Industrial hemp is used mainly for its primary
fibres and hurds (chopped hemp). Three fibre
types can be distinguished histologically:
(i) woody fibres from the centre of the stem,
derived from cambial activity - these are used
to produce hurds; (ii) primary fibres situated
outside of the vascular tissues and derived
from the primary meristem; and (iii) secondary
extra-xylem fibres derived from the cambium
(van der Werf
et al
., 1994).
Fibres are derived from plant cell walls,
that is to say the constituents of the envelope
