between elicitors, plants, and environmental conditions, obtaining the optimal
parameters for beneficial elicitation of cannabis is definitely not straightforward.
21.12 Conclusion
With all the evidence supporting the potential benefits, elicitation is still underuti-
lized in the production of cannabis. In cell culture and on a research scale, elicitors
have proven to significantly and reliably increase therapeutic activity of medicinal
plants. However, this has yet to be translated into agricultural applications. One
wonders what is preventing the large scale implementation of elicitation. It is
plausible that lack of applied development is responsible. Although much basic
research has been performed, the dearth of appliedfield studies may prevent agri-
cultural application. Many cannabis growers may not have the resources, or scien-
tific expertise, to translate results of cell culture studies to large scalefield conditions.
Another possible hindrance is economic feasibility. Many elicitors, especially
from exotic sources, are not cheap to produce. Unless the added value is substantial,
it may not be cost effective to use elicitors. Even if in many cases, economic
considerations prevent the large scale implementation of elicitors, elicitation can
still play an important role in the development of cannabis. Although many elicitors
may be exorbitantly expensive to scale up for large scale production, they may be a
vital aid in elucidating many of the factors contributing to the content of bioactive
compounds in cannabis. This information can later be utilized in optimizing the
growing conditions for secondary metabolite production, even if specific elicitors
are not used.
With the plethora of potentially beneficial uses of cannabis, it is still surprising
how little work has been done regarding optimizing the environmental conditions.
Although the added complexities of harvesting pharmaceuticals from biological
systems has hindered their development, the use of elicitation in parallel with other
modified agricultural practices can increase the use of cannabis in mainstream
healthcare. While extensive research must be conducted to determine the ideal
conditions for each specific use, the eventual rewards of optimized growing systems
producing large, stable quantities of therapeutic compounds are well worth the effort.
Acknowledgements This work has been carried out with support from the Israeli Ministry of
Science, Technology, and Space as well as the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and the Israeli
Ministry of Health.
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