Several new varieties of macadamia tree are now available for order after four years of harvest data on nine year old trees planted in statistically replicated plots from Mackay to Macksville.
Project leader Dougal Russell, Queensland Department of Fisheries and Agricultuire, Nambour, said the industry backed research was unusual in tree crops and more typical of grain variety trials.
Location certainly determined which trees would do best, as Mr Russell anticipated, with variety ‘P’ hailed as one with great potential for the Bundaberg area but not nearly so for the Alstonville Plateau and the coastal peatsoil flats where varieties ‘G’ and ‘R’ offered the most promise with both producing more nuts per cubic metre.
Dense trees are poorly considered when it comes to spray application and variety P proved too dense on the Northern Rivers but just right on Burnett. “What this trial has proven is that varieties will perform in different ways depending where they are grown,” said Mr Russell.
