Strawberries

Strawberries are a major clonally-propagated crop. Australian production is in the vicinity of 60,000mt of berries valued at over $300 million per annum from 80 million plants that are productive over one or two years, requiring about 60 million new plants annually. World demand has been estimated as approaching a billion plants annually. Plants originate from varieties introduced through tissue-culture but are commercially propagated through runners from mother stock. The introduction of new varieties is usually based on several hundred tissue plants per variety, with subsequent delay of several years to multiply these to provide adequate numbers of mother stock before demand for runners can be met.

NuPlant has demonstrated the ability to produce disease-free strawberry plantlets in its SmartClone™ system. This offers potential to reduce the time to establish mother-plants for runner production, and in some cases, may be used for production plants to allow earlier release of new varieties. The SmartClone™ system thereby offers a temporary alternative to runners as a source of strawberry plants to allow earlier release of new varieties. In Australia up to 50 new varieties may be introduced annually, although typically only a subset of these are suited to the Australian industry.

Earlier release of new varieties and disease control are important elements towards achieving improved quality and economic returns. The SmartClone™ system offers delivery of robust, disease-free strawberry plantlets suitable for field or hydroponic planting.

SmartClone™ - Tougher plantlets faster

SmartClone™ changes the tissue culture paradigm. NuPlant’s key technology allows conditions to be customized for each growth phase for more robust plantlets, grading for uniformity, robotic handling for laboratory efficiency, easy soil transfer, and a head start for accelerated nursery growth.