Super mango
Queensland researchers are working to produce a mango that not only looks and tastes excellent, but could place the local mango industry at the top of the international market.
The Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (DPI&F) project is merging Queensland’s most popular mango variety, Kensington Pride, and other varieties to create the perfect sweet tropical treat. While mangoes contribute $100 million annually to the Queensland economy, dramatic improvements in productivity and product differentiation are needed to remain competitive.
Leader of the Mango Genomics Initiative Dr Ralf Dietzgen said that custom-designing mangoes that meet consumers’ expectations of taste, colour, texture and nutrition and suitability for growing in Australia’s tropical environments, will accelerate the value of this industry.
“Traditional approaches take 16 to 25 years to develop a new mango variety but thanks to DPI&F’s work in mango genomics, advances in quality and breeding efficiency can be more rapidly achieved by early selection of improved varieties at the seedling stage,” Dr Dietzgen said.
Currently, the Queensland mango industry is predominantly based on a single variety, Kensington Pride (KP). The KP is very popular due to its flavour, but it has serious yield deficiencies, averaging only five to seven tonnes per hectare.
“There is enough genetic diversity within the mango gene pool to reach yields of 60 tonnes per hectare,” Dr Dietzgen said.
DPI&F’s Mango Genomics Initiative aims to combine the best characteristics of a range of varieties, which could make the Queensland mango industry the most competitive in the world.
This could allow for world market domination by Queensland developed varieties protected by Plant Breeders Rights and commercial agreements.
The Mango Genomics Initiative is a collaboration between DPI&F’s Emerging Technologies and Horticulture and Forestry Sciences business units. Partners are The University of Queensland’s Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences and School of Pharmacy for identifying bioactive compounds and health attributes; Queensland Facility for Advanced Bioinformatics for gene discovery; and the Australian Genome Research Facility for high throughput sequencing.
Email: ralf.dietzgen@dpi.qld.gov.au
Last reviewed 24 July 2007
