Completed project
Increased stone fruit profitability by consistently meeting market expectations (SF12003)
Publication date: December 14, 2018
Delivery Partner: The Victorian Department of Economic Development, Jobs, Transport and Resources (DEDJTR)
Established in 2012 and concluding in 2017, this project was responsible for the establishment of the world-class Stonefruit Field Laboratory at DEDJTR-Tatura in Victoria, and through this the investigation of management practices to produce high-quality fruit and so increase grower productivity and profitability.
Investigations focused on the effect of orchard management practices involving crop load, irrigation, rootstocks and canopy architecture on improving consistency in fruit quality – including size, maturity and sweetness – for selected varieties of peach, nectarine, plum and apricot. To this end, the orchard involved a suite of field experiments, complemented with sensor technologies such as DA meters, plus a state-of-the-art post-harvest facility including a fruit grader equipped with near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) technology and optical sensors for rapid, non-destructive measurement of fruit quality, and cool rooms equipped with controlled atmosphere storage units.
Improvements in fruit size, maturity and sweetness were observed by manipulating fruiting levels by crop load management, applying strategic crop water stress through irrigation management, reducing tree vigour using dwarfing rootstocks and optimising fruit position in the tree by manipulating canopy architecture. Results suggest that careful manipulation of these agronomic practices in the correct combination has the potential to improve yield, pack-out and to reduce variability in fruit quality.
With the trees reaching maturity/commercial production in the 2017/18, a subsequent levy investment was to continue research to develop specific orchard management recommendations from the project’s many avenues of research. However, preliminary findings have suggested these approaches for growing consistent high-quality fruit:
Throughout its course, the project delivered information to industry including through regional roadshows, conference presentations and ever-popular orchard walks and tours through the on-site facilities to showcase and provide training around modern high-density orchard management, including tree training systems, pruning, blossom thinning, IPM, irrigation and fertigation management and post-harvest storage and handling systems.
All of the information, videos and resources produced by the project can be found at www.hin.com.au/projects/stonefruit-field-laboratory.
During its run, there were more than 30 YouTube videos were produced around project activities and findings, with some of the concluding videos including:
This project was a strategic levy investment in the Hort Innovation Summerfruit Fund
© 2026 Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited.
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