SC Labs announced May 10thth that its labs are now able to test for the highly contagious latent hop viroid known as “dudding disease”.
The viroid, which stunts the growth of cannabis plants and reduces potency by up to 40%, is difficult to recognize from symptoms alone. According to the company, it is estimated that the common practice of shipping cloned plants across the country has resulted in up to half of all plants in the United States being infected.
In contrast to other pathogens such as fungi, yeast and bacteria, there are few visible symptoms of a latent hop infection until the plants have flowered. SC Labs has developed methods to test and detect this dangerous viroid by examining the genetic makeup of plants extracted from small samples of fan leaf tissue to determine if plants are infected before flowering.
“SC Labs is proud to announce our advanced Hop Latent Viroid (HLV or HLVd) analysis and virus testing solutions to combat the viroid threat to the entire cannabis community. Our solutions target infections that directly impact production using state-of-the-art Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR or QRT-PCR) technology. “We take small sample sizes from low-THC biomass and conduct rigorous, routine process inspections and data reviews for national testing,” SC Labs chief compliance officer Josh Wurzer told Benzinga. “We firmly believe that this is the only way commercial growers can protect their plants.” Consumers are tested regularly, especially as experts estimate that the viroid is present in half of all plants in the country. Our goal is to work with growers and their facilities to ensure proper proactive routine testing and strict hygiene and sterilization protocols are in place to combat the spread of HLV across the country.”
HLV has few visible symptoms until the plant flowers, but symptoms include:
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Shorter internodal distances
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smaller leaves
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stunting
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