In Australia, University of Queensland researchers invented a method of supplying 500 times more avocado plants to industry than is currently possible. The new stem cell multiplication method could double avocado production in Queensland, as well as reducing the time it takes for new avocado varieties to reach commercial orchards from 10 years to three years or less.
The Queensland-owned technology involves a secret recipe of media, light, temperature and other factors to grow and root multiple avocado plants from the shoot tip of an existing plant. The technology is non-GM and environmentally-friendly, requiring less land, water, fertilizers and pesticides. “Ten-thousand plants can be generated in a 10 square-meter room on a soil-less media,” said project leader Professor Neena Mitter.
Queensland produces 50 percent of Australia’s high-value avocado crop, worth $460 million annually. However, the industry has a shortage of high-quality planting material and a plant order backlog until 2020.