Industries · Emerging
Native foods
Tissue culture propagation of Australian native food plants — Kakadu plum, lemon myrtle, Davidson plum, finger lime, riberry, muntries, quandong, wattleseed, mountain pepper, and others. Clonal planting material for an industry transitioning from wild harvest to cultivated supply.
Research basis. AgriFutures Australia identifies 13 priority native food species including anise myrtle, bush tomato, Davidson plum, desert lime, finger lime, Kakadu plum, lemon aspen, lemon myrtle, muntries, mountain pepper, quandong, riberry, and wattleseed. See Focus on Kakadu Plum and Health benefits of Australian native foods.
Why tissue culture
Australian native foods are at different points along the journey from wild harvest to cultivated supply. Where an industry is scaling and moving to plantation production, the limiting factor is often planting material — reliable, true-to-type, disease-free plants in the numbers and timeframes growers need.
- Clonal propagation of named cultivars and selected chemotypes
- Scalable supply of planting material for new plantation developments
- Clean, disease-free stock for long-lived orchards
- Protocols can be developed for species not yet routinely tissue-cultured
References
- AgriFutures Australia. Focus on Kakadu Plum.
- AgriFutures Australia. Health benefits of Australian native foods.
- AgriFutures Australia. Australian Native Finger Lime RD&E Plan 2023–2028.