Project Overview – PF22000
The next phase of the National Passionfruit Breeding and Evaluation Program has been contracted to continue breeding research to deliver new varieties for Australian growers.
The program has been led by Dr Mobasher Alam and a research team at University of Queensland since 2023. The new 3-year project is funded by Hort Innovation using the passionfruit research and development levy, and funds from the Australian Government, and supported by contributions from University of Queensland.
As most of you will know, the main scion varieties of passionfruit grown in Australia – Sweetheart and Misty Gem – have been propagated by tip cuttings for some years and a number of problems have been reported including reduced fruit size and yield compared to the original selections, more frequent blind-tipping and also problems with finding suitable tips for grafting due to thinner tips.
The new project will continue and expand on the first phase of the breeding program building on the expertise and resources developed over the past four years.
As part of this new phase, the project will continue to engage with growers through field walks, presentations, industry news articles, and will seek input from a project reference group of growers to steer priorities towards grower needs.