Cannabis Testing Lab Detects Crop-Destroying Viroid in California

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 18, 2022 Purity Medical Laboratories is now offering hop latent viroid (HpLVd) testing to assist growers in identifying and eliminating a devastating viroid that occurs worldwide.

Hop latent viroid, a plant pathogen, is also known as “dudding disease” due to its tendency to reduce yield and stunt growth and lead to a “dud” harvest. Unfortunately, many early cases are asymptomatic and difficult to detect. Some of the symptoms of HpLVd are stunted growth, brittle stems, reduced trichome counts, and low flower yields.

Since early testing and detection helps to eradicate infected cannabis plants, growers can protect against outbreaks and prevent losses of entire harvests through regular testing rather than waiting for symptoms to present.

Cannabis industry analysts project that the hop latent viroid affects more than 30% of all cannabis plants, resulting in millions of dollars in loss for U.S. growers, and increasingly becoming one of the greatest threats to the cannabis industry.

An Effective Response

If only a single plant is infected, it should be removed and destroyed. Surrounding plants must be quarantined and tested several more times for the pathogen. Tools and equipment should always be thoroughly cleaned. The only reliable method to clean plants infected with HpLVd is through tissue culture systems and heat or cold treatments.

Once the plant pathogen has been detected, routine testing is essential to ensure it hasn’t spread to other plants.

About Hop Latent Viroid

HpLVd was first detected in hops. Recent findings have determined that HpLVd can have significant impacts on yields and secondary metabolism that may be more pronounced in cannabis plants. Its primary transmission seems to be mechanical, with more research needed on secondary means of transmission. In 2017, disease symptoms were noticed on multiple plants grown in California, including brittle stems, a reduction in yields, stunting, and malformation or chlorosis of leaves.

About Purity Medical Laboratories

Purity Medical Laboratories is a cannabis testing lab that offers R&D testing and compliance testing for commercial and medical marijuana growers and distributors in California, USA. Founded to provide integrity and excellence in the analytical testing of cannabis products, the scientific and laboratory members have over 40 years of combined experience in analytical chemistry, plant biochemistry, plant molecular genetics, and plant breeding. Purity Medical Laboratories is leading the cannabis industry in new testing technologies and in helping to reduce the spread of plant pathogens, including HpLVd. The testing contributes to important education about the impact of the disease on the United State’s legal cannabis industry.

 (This information is primarily sourced from Purity Medical Laboratories. Highly Capitalized has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Read our Disclaimer here).