Prevention and treatment of Orchid virus Disease

In the foreseeable future, virus disease will still be a stubborn and intractable problem for cultivated orchids. One of the difficulties is that orchids are precious. Whether in batches or individually, ornamental orchids may be the most expensive artificial plants. Potted flowering orchids retail for more than $100 per pot. Some strains of Cymbidium, Paphiopedilum and Magnolia are worth more than thousands of dollars. In addition, some orchids are rare and are particularly precious, and such orchids are generally not commercially traded. Even if these orchids are infected by the virus, they will be kept in the orchid nursery, and no orchid farmer is willing to remove them. Second, many orchid farmers do not agree with the strict quarantine measures for the import and export of orchids, which they believe will hinder the international exchange of orchid resources. Third, uniaxial orchids such as Af8lldl and Wandai orchids are the most important varieties of cut orchids in Southeast Asia, and they are difficult to propagate in vitro, which limits the application of tissue culture for the production of a large number of virus-free seedlings.

For less showy orchids such as vanilla and endangered species preserved in germplasm gardens, it may be more difficult to eradicate their viral diseases. In fact, although more attention has been paid to the germplasm conservation of wild orchids and other orchids recently, orchid farmers have not made due efforts to protect them from virus diseases during cultivation.

The prevention and treatment of orchid virus disease mainly depends on prevention. Orchid farmers should buy guaranteed orchid seedlings that have been tested for virus, at the same time, use various detection techniques to inspect orchids one by one, and take all necessary measures to prevent healthy plants from being objectively infected by the virus. If the above measures can be achieved, even if the virus disease can not be completely eliminated, the vast majority of orchid farmers can successfully prevent virus disease from infecting their orchid nursery.