Sep 15, 2020
Australia’s leading science agency, CSIRO, is heard to be hunting for farmers who are interested in growing a dwarf breed of grape vines that can bear fruit all year round. When the CSIRO discovered a naturally-occurring dwarfing gene in a very old wine grape variety, the science agency cross bred it in to table grapes to create the microvines having capacity to fruit throughout the year.
An unpredicted by-product of the dwarfing gene is a finding that allows the vine to continuously give fruits, provided the conditions are right and favourable. Initially the discovery was used as a research tool, allowing scientists to breed different varieties with special traits in a shorter amount of time. However, CSIRO business development manager Susan Hani said they were now considering its commercial application to go in broader stream.
Dr. Hani informed that there are a lot of opportunities to supply fresh grapes all year round, both domestically and internationally, and the CSIRO was looking for businesses to partner with. She added said the vine’s small stature and continuous fruiting made them ideal to greenhouse operations and could be trained to grow vertical or laterally, similar to tomatoes with maximum output with minimum space.
When microvines are grown in a greenhouse, the control conditions of environment and inner climate allows the plants to the continuously flower and bear fruit throughout the year.
“The grapes are slightly smaller than the really big ones you see in the shops, but you wouldn’t necessarily think they are an abnormally small grape,” Dr Hani said.