National pineapple breeding program

Summary

The National pineapple breeding and evaluation program aims to support the Australian pineapple industry’s need for new varieties for the fresh-market sector through improving genetics, focusing on consumer and grower-orientated traits, including:

  • improving disease resistance, flowering control and yield to assist efficient production
  • improving consistency of fruit-quality traits to target market development.

Details

Full title

National pineapple breeding and evaluation program

Status Current
Dates

Start date: July 2018
End date: June 2023

Project leader

Garth Sanewski, (07) 5381 1333
garth.sanewski@daf.qld.gov.au

Aims

The program covers:

  • using the main commercial and advanced varieties developed in previous DAF breeding programs, including the successful Hawaiian variety MD-2
  • developing molecular  markers for root disease resistance and flowering control
  • using a low level of in-breeding as a novel approach to pineapple breeding and includes some new genetics not previously available in Australia
  • developing high-yielding varieties with greater resistance to root disease, natural flower initiation and fruit translucency with a range of flavours suited to the Australian market
  • providing the industry with varieties suited to the main production regions including South East Queensland, central coastal Queensland and Far North Queensland.
Benefits

The program results will include:

  • developing high-yielding varieties with good-eating quality to enhance sustainability of the pineapple industry and provide the means to better compete with imported products
  • providing the industry with the products to expand production and improve profitability
  • mandating a controlled marketing system (in the commercialisation strategy) to ensure better control over product quality and intellectual property
  • collecting data on heritability and various parent combinations to further improve our understanding of pineapple genetics
  • developing germplasm with superior traits for fresh fruit use to enrich the Australian pineapple germplasm collection.
Methodology

The program will develop and plant a population of 35,000 seedlings on industry farms, including:

  • small plantings of 5,000 seedlings at:
    • Far North Queensland (Townsville district)
    • Central Queensland (Yeppoon district)
    • Wide Bay (Bundaberg-Maryborough)
  • 20,000 seedlings planted in South East Queensland, mainly on summer fruiting schedules.
  • establishing small trials on DAF’s Maroochy Research Facility.
Funding

DAF and Hort Innovation

Contact details

Contact the Customer Service Centre

Last updated: 25 Feb 2020