"new virus test ... better protection for orchid flowers Taiwan produces NT$3 billion a year in orchids, of which about 70 percent are exported. But orchids are very prone to ringspot and mosaic viruses. Currently, virus testing requires two days, which means that large-sale [scale ?] testing is out of the question. ... the experimental station of the Council of Agriculture has successfully developed a virus detection system that requires only three hours to give results...
The head of station's Plant Pathology group, Zhang Qing-an... orchids are Taiwan's leading flowering export plant. Of the island's NT$30 [3 ?] billion annual output of orchids, about seven out of every ten plants is sold overseas. These sales include shoots, potted flowers, and cut flowers, primarily Oncidium and butterfly orchids. ... the biggest killer of orchids are Odontoglossum ringspot virus, also called ORSV, and Cymbidium mosaic virus or CyMV. ORSV causes leaves to develop yellow spots, while the latter causes black patches on leaves, which kill the plant. Zhang says that the moment either of these two viruses become apparent in a plant, open blooms fall off and lose their color. ... If a shipment of orchids for export has a single plant with one of these viruses, the entire shipment could be spoiled. Zhang points out that current detection of these two viruses is based on immunology, using a reverse polymerase reaction. This process requires two days before results can be read, making it time-consuming and poorly suited to large-scale testing. ... after five years of research, the agricultural testing station has successfully developed a test using a biochip that requires only three hours to detect the virus. It's fast and accurate, and as soon as the virus is detected in a flower, that bloom can be stripped off and an uninfected mother branch selected and its tissue used to produce healthy flowering shoots. The technology has already been granted a patent. Zhang says that in order to increase orchid exports, the agricultural experimental station has authorized a new biotechnology company in Hsinchu Science Park to produce large batches of healthy, virus-free orchid shoots for sale in Taiwan and abroad. Even Holland, the leading producer of flowering plants, has an eye on the test, and has been cooperating with Taiwan to produce healthy orchid shoots." source : http://english.www.gov.tw/TaiwanHeadlines/index.jsp?categid=198&recordid=89312 *************** Regards, VB _______________________________________________ the OrchidGuide Digest (OGD) [email protected] http://orchidguide.com/mailman/listinfo/orchids_orchidguide.com
