Completed project
Optimising chemical and cultural control of onion white rot (VN20007)
This project developed a soil DNA test and improved management strategies to help onion growers better assess and manage the risk of onion white rot.
Completed project
SITplus: Developing and optimising production of a male-only, temperature-sensitive-lethal, strain of Qfly, B. tryoni (MT13059)
Publication date: December 4, 2018
Delivery Partner: South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI)
© 2026 Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited.
This investment has successfully demonstrated a method to develop a ‘temperature-sensitive lethal, male-selecting’ strain of Queensland fruit fly (Qfly). To put simply, this research will allow for male-only, sterile fruit flies to be bred in large numbers. It is one of the key projects in the broader strategic co-investment SITplus initiative that’s tackling the issue of Qfly. The male flies are to ultimately be released in growing regions of south-eastern Australian that are affected by Qfly. They will come to outnumber the wild male population in these areas and by mating with wild females – and limiting the opportunity for wild males to do so – they are intended to lead to the collapse of wild Qfly populations.
Levies from several horticulture industries are involved in the project which, as a SITplus initiative, is part of the Hort Frontiers Fruit Fly Fund.
This multi-industry project was a strategic levy investment in multiple Hort Innovation Funds