20.2 Diversity and Quantification of Endophytes
Harbored inCannabis Sativa
As an effort to characterize and evaluate the diversity of endophytes harbored in
C. sativaplants, different tissues were investigated for the presence of fungal and
bacterial endophytic isolates from different sources as well as geographical loca-
tions including Bedrocan BV Medicinal Cannabis from the Netherlands (Kusari
et al. 2013 ,2014a), local regions of Mandi district, Himachal Pradesh (Gautam
et al. 2013 ), Western Himalayas of Lolab valley and Sadhana top (Qadri et al. 2013 )
and more recently, even from other wild populations (Afzal et al. 2015 ). Different
tissues ofCannabisplants like leaves, stems or twigs, apical or lateral buds, peti-
oles, roots, and complete rhizosphere (Fig.20.1) were investigated for fungal and
bacterial endophytes (Gautam et al. 2013 ; Kusari et al. 2013 ,2014a; Qadri et al.
2013 ; Afzal et al. 2015 ). It is nowfirmly established that survival of endophytes in a
particular habitat includes continuous coevolution with associated epiphytes and
pathogens. Therefore, it is immensely important to distinguish between endophytes
and other associated microorganisms. The successful isolation of endophytic iso-
lates fromCannabisplants involved well-established surface sterilization methods
Fig. 20.1 Representative diagram showing diversity of endophytes harbored in different tissues of
Cannabis sativaplants bioprospected from different geographical locations
20 Cannabis Endophytes and Their Application... 421