Strength in uniformity - Novel clonal technologies for a more productive avocado industry (2014-2018)
Abstract
Australian avocado production is worth $140M at farm gate and $320M at retail level. Sustainability of the industry is threatened by limited productivity and consumer affordability. Avocado is a grafted crop with low productivity attributed to seedling derived genetically diverse rootstocks. Current clonal propagation techniques for achieving high and uniform yields take 18 months to deliver a market ready plant at $35/ plant. We aim to develop novel clonal propagation technology by coupling traditional tissue culture with innovative components of newly discovered growth hormone pathways and small RNA regulation. Our leading edge protocol will be much cheaper and take less time to deliver uniform high-yielding clonal avocado plants .
