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Dr. Zamir Punja is a Professor of Plant Biotechnology at Simon Fraser University in Canada. His research interests include the etiology and management of plant diseases on vegetable and horticultural crops, and the applications of plant biotechnology for disease management. Since 2018, his work has shifted to researching cannabis, where his group has described a range of previously unreported pathogens affecting the crop and has evaluated various methods for disease management.



Zamir’s latest research has been focused on a pathogen that is spreading throughout cannabis cultivation facilities worldwide, Hop Latent Viroid. HLVd is a relatively new pathogen. It was first identified in hops in the late 80s and was detected in cannabis in 2018. It is also quite small, only 40 nanometers in size. Still, in just five years this tiny pathogen has managed to infect as much as 90% of cannabis facilities in California alone. All while reducing yields by as much as 50% and costing the industry $4 billion in losses.



Zamir shared his latest research on HLVd at CannMed 23, which is the basis of our conversation today. I have put a link to the video of his presentation in the show description. Our conversation covers:




0:00 Introduction



4:38 Why Zamir calls HLVd the “COVID of Cannabis”



8:06 Evidence that HLVd spreads through seed 10:42 What is it doing to cannabis plants?



13:17 How hop growers dealt with HLVd



16:06 Lack of genetic diversity in HLVd



19:50 Up close view of trichomes on HLVd-infected plants



29:57 Treatment and Remediation options



32:53 HLVd Testing protocols



38:41 Sampling recommendations



48:05 Hope for the Future



50:30 Related Resources



52:47 Outro




Thanks to This Episode's Sponsor: PhenoXpress



PhenoXpress offers low-cost genetic testing services to cultivation facilities. Using qPCR technology, PhenoXpress helps cutlivators identify genetic traits, such as plant sex, while plants are still in the seedling tray. They can also identify plant pathogens, such as Hop Latent Viroid, Lettuce Chlorosis Virus, and Powdery Mildew before plants show obvious signs of infection. Contact PhenoXpress today so they can help you predict, prevent, and eliminate major crop problems before they happen. 



Learn more at phenoxpress.com



Additional Resources




Understanding and Managing Hop Latent Viroid in Cannabis - Zamir Punja, PhD [CannMed 23 Presentation]



Hop Latent Viroid Shares a 19 Nucleotide Sequence with Cannabis sativa COG7 - Kevin McKernan [CannMed 23 Presentation] -



Hop Latent Viroid in Cannabis



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