What is it all about?

This program provides the Australian persimmon industry with superior and locally adapted rootstocks suited to existing and new commercial varieties. It also imports new persimmon varieties negotiated with overseas partners, mainly in South Korea, but opportunities in Japan and China will also be explored. 

Challenge

Producing high-quality persimmon fruit is critical for sustaining and growing consumer demand in domestic and export markets. 

Response

This project will build on the progress of the National persimmon varietal evaluation program 2018-2023 (PR17000). True-to-type verification has been carried out on the variety 'Rojo Brillante', and a standard clonal propagation technique for rootstock to enhance tree uniformity in orchards has been developed. This project will focus heavily on the de-astringency technique of 'Rojo Brillante' and assess its post-harvest and shelf-life behaviour.

Some locally available varieties not yet evaluated in previous work will be evaluated for early maturity, yield, quality, and stem/bottom-end cracking. These varieties were planted in the last project and are now starting to produce fruit that can be assessed.

The key objectives of the program are to:

• Continue importation of new persimmon varieties, especially early maturing varieties.
• Conduct ongoing evaluation of new persimmon varieties, including non-astringent and astringent varieties.
• Assess the uniformity of tissue cultured produced rootstocks trial at growers' properties with different scion combinations.
• Assess tissue-culture propagated varieties to see if they will grow and yield on their own roots.
• Conduct fruit assessments to consider post-harvest handling and shelf-life for promising persimmon varieties.
• Implement various industry engagement activities to extend project outcomes and assist with industry guidance.

Benefit

By developing rootstocks that are suitable for different varieties in diverse growing regions of Australia, this project has the potential to significantly enhance persimmon productivity and quality. This, in turn, can lead to increased consumer demand in both domestic and export markets, thereby benefiting the entire Australian persimmon industry.