Passionfruit

The Australian passionfruit industry is based in tropical and sub-tropical Australia. From 2016- 2018 the Northern Territory Agriculture branch undertook a breeding trial, creating hybrids of Passiflora edulis and the tropically adapted Passiflora flavicarpa. The commercialisation rights for the best performers from this program were sold to a private grower.

Passionfruit hybridisation project

One of the critical issues with modern horticulture is the mass propagation of clean planting material. In 2022 DAF NT began experimenting with a protocol to Tissue Culture (micro-propagate) 4 lines of passionfruit varieties in collaboration with grower collaborators. Tissue Culture allows multiple plants to be grown from a single tip or shoot in the laboratory. These plants are screened for disease and bacteria during the process, ensuring healthy planting material.

Objectives

  • To investigate and fine tune a Tissue Culture protocol for 4 lines of local passionfruit.
  • To determine the time to flowering for passionfruit plants grown in Tissue Culture.

Useful links

Contact

plant.industries@nt.gov.au


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