Rootstock Improvement for the Australian Avocado Industry - a Preliminary Report

Abstract

SUMMARY The “Rootstock Improvement for the Australian Avocado Industry” project has been developed to address a number of key issues important to the long-term sustainability of avocado production in Australia. Australian avocado orchards are currently planted on seedling rootstocks, which are genetically diverse. This diversity increases the difficulty of getting a uniform outcome from standard management practices. For example, over a 6-year period a 400% difference in yield was measured between ‘Hass’ trees in the same orchard under identical management. Additionally, large differences have been recorded between trees in the susceptibility of fruit developing postharvest rots which negatively impacts on consumers. These differences have been attributed to different rootstocks exerting changes on scion physiology. This project reports on the first 3 years of a planned 10-year program to identify superior rootstocks and develop efficient clonal propagation systems so that genetic uniformity of orchards and the benefits arising can be introduced to the avocado industry. Results from this project have clearly demonstrated improved efficiency of avocado seed germination in nurseries through seed scarification techniques. Cutting the seed and removing the seedcoat before planting reduced the time and increased the germination by 30-50%. In relation to clonal propagation the study of wounding techniques to encourage root development discovered that a 360° scrape of the etiolated shoot prior to the application of KIBA (a root promoter) consistently gave a “collar of roots”. This is particularly important for those rootstocks that are difficult to clonally propagate.

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