8 Mar 2022

Everything You Should Know About Hop Latent Viroid (HpLVD)

Anjali Singh, MS

As a content and community manager, I leverage my expertise in plant biotechnology, passion for tissue culture, and writing skills to create compelling articles, simplifying intricate scientific concepts, and address your inquiries. As a dedicated science communicator, I strive to spark curiosity and foster a love for science in my audience.

Table of Contents

In recent years, you would have been bombarded with the news of a pathogen affecting Cannabis cultivation. But, do you know this "new pathogen" have been discovered way before and always been one of the biggest enemy of farmers and cultivators of all/any plant, who meticulously work to produce healthy plants with increased and healthy end products.

Introduction

In recent years, you would have been bombarded with the news of a pathogen affecting Cannabis cultivation. But, do you know this "new pathogen" have been discovered way before and always been one of the biggest enemy of farmers and cultivators of all/any plant, who meticulously work to produce healthy plants with increased and healthy end products.

Infections and diseases cause a great loss of hard work, money, and time for cultivators. Thus, this has been an active research area and a buzzing work among plant scientists to find the cure of the diseases. It can be either by producing certain chemicals that can kill pathogens or irritate them or by altering genetic engineering to develop a more resistant variety.

The HpLVD viroid is one such pathogen that’s a pain in the neck of our growers. The viroids were first identified by Schmidt in 1966. However, no significant symptoms were observed in plants, except some growth impairment and reduction in yield.

In this article, you will learn what kind of pathogen in the Hop Latent Viroid (HpLVD), what symptoms cause in plants, what are the options available to diagnose the plants affected by the virus, and how to prevent the infection from occurring in healthy plants.

What is HpLVD?

Hop Latent Viroid (HpLVD) is a plant pathogen that causes stunting/Dudding of the plant, called “Dudding disease”. Biologically, it’s a circular, single-stranded infectious RNA. It belongs to the genus Cocadviroid and appears usually on Hop. As the viroids do not produce any symptoms, they can go unnoticed for years and transfer to your new plants when you grow using the diseased plants.

The most common symptoms showed by plants are:

• Stunted Growth
• Reduced Vigor
• Brittle stems with less mass of flowers
• Stunted trichomes

HpLVD in Cannabis

In 2017, several growers in California have reported stunting of multiple cultivars of Cannabis sativa. However, no other distinguishing symptoms were observed based on which it could be concluded what affected the plants’ growth. Later, multiple scientific studies proved that those plants were infected with HpLVD.

So, how can you identify if your plants are infected with HpLVD if the symptoms are not significant? Well, look for the following symptoms in your plants and get your plants tested for the presence of the viroid.

• Stunted plants
• Reduced vigor
• Reduced potency
• Stunted trichome production
• Abnormal branching
• Up to 50% less cannabinoid and terpene production
• Malformation or chlorosis of leaves
• Brittle stems
• Loss of quality and reduction in yields

At the vegetative stage, you might observe shorter internodal spacing and smaller leaves. And, during the flowering stage, you might observe smaller and looser buds and less trichome production.

How Does HpLVD Spread?

The viroid can spread through contact. For example, you use tools to prune an infected plant, then you use the same ones for the pruning of uninfected plants. In this way, you have transferred the virus to a healthy plant from an infected plant. So, all the tools you use for the process, including scissors, shears, scalpels, and others should be sterilized before using them on the other plants.

Another way through which the viroid is transferred is by using the seeds of infected plants for multiplication purposes. Though, it’s not clear yet how it happens.

How to Control Hop Latent Viroids (HpLVD)?

If you observe the symptoms mentioned above and suspect your plants to be infected with HpLVD, the first step is to do the screening test. It will confirm if your suspicions are correct.

And, if you get positive results for the viroids, remove all the infected plants and plants in contact with the infected plant and screen them for the viroid infection if possible.

If you find all your plants are infected with HpLVD then, you can proceed to tissue culture. It’s an advanced method to grow disease-free plants. It involves the use of certain chemicals that kill the virus and also helps you boost your production rate.

How Can Plant Cell Technology Help You to Get Rid of HpLVD From Your Cannabis Cultures?

Now, you understand that tissue culture has a major role to play in producing healthy plants that are free from HpLVD. However, the process is not that easy when you don’t have experience in it. Moreover, it will take a month for you to create or develop your own cure—which will require mixing different types and concentrations of chemicals and testing them on plants. Imagine how much time and money you’ll be required to invest in it!

But, with Plant Cell Technology it becomes much easier. We provide cannabis consulting services to all sizes of cannabis growers. Whether you’re an enthusiast just hitting the field and require to train yourself and your staff before starting your cannabis culturing business, or an established organization facing HpLVD infection issues, PCT has a solution for everything.

The best part about it is that you can either use this service sitting at home by choosing our one-on-one call option or can demand a lab visit by our expert cannabis culturists to guide you and your staff and assist all of you with the whole process of pathogen identification and eradication.

So, choose PCT’s consulting Services today and boost your production at all levels of your tissue culture processes!