What was it all about?

Beginning in 2020, this investment continuined to develop and evaluate new scion varieties of passionfruit to ensure the sustainability of the industry.

This iteration of the project built on the work completed by National passionfruit breeding program (PF15000) which made progress towards the release of new commercial varieties before varietal decline affects the profitability of current ones such as Sweetheart and Misty Gem.

Following Southern Cross University’s letter to Hort Innovation notifying that the PF19000 Project Leader was leaving and that the University was not able to identify someone with the required background/expertise to act as Project Leader, it was agreed to vary Project PF19000 to conclude prior to the proposed project end date. 

Southern Cross University assisted Hort Innovation in transitioning breeding R&D to the University of Queensland and facilitated access to developed breeding resources/material, data, information, and records from projects PF15000 and PF19000. 

The University of Queensland is now undertaking ongoing breeding research through the National passionfruit breeding and evaluation program 2022-2027 (PF22000).