Physiochemical properties of hemp extract ( <i>Cannabis sativa L</i> ) inflorescences grown in Northern Alabama

Medicinal plants are an excellent source of bioactive components and are gaining significant attention for food protection due to their bioactive properties. In this context, hemp (Cannabis sp.) is being explored for such applications because of its well-known antibacterial and antioxidant activities. However, the bioactive efficacy of cultivars currently grown in Northern Alabama has not been widely studied. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical properties of two hemp cultivars (Hemp 5 and Hemp 17). Hemp inflorescences grown at the Winfred Thomas Agricultural Research Station were used in this study. The antioxidant activity and content of the extracts were determined by ferric reducing antioxidant power, radical scavenging activity, total phenolic content, and total flavonoid content. Antibacterial activity against cocktails of Listeria monocytogenes (LM) and Salmonella enterica (SE) was evaluated by optical density and disc diffusion. All treatments were analyzed in triplicate, and analysis of variance was conducted with statistical significance based on p ≤ 0.05. Results indicated that cultivars and defatting significantly affected (p ≤ 0.05) the antioxidant properties, with Hemp 17 DF (defatted) having the highest RSA (70.51 ± 4.24%) compared to the positive control of ascorbic acid (83.81 ± 5.85%). Antibacterial results based on optical density indicated that hemp extracts had a significantly (p ≤ 0.05) lower optical density compared to the negative controls (LM and SE). These findings suggest that Northern Alabama hemp cultivars can potentially be utilized to enhance food safety and quality. PRACTICAL APPLICATION: Northern Alabama cultivars of hemp extract can be utilized for the enhancement of the safety and quality application due to inherent antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.