Scientists developing super breadfruit [1]
Monday, March 9, 2015 - 22:12. Updated on Wednesday, July 15, 2015 - 11:33.
Scientists for the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) are trying to develop a breadfruit (Mae) that is more productive and climate resistant.
The research is being conducted by the SPC’s Centre for Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT), Fiji’s capital Suva. The aim is to improve food security in the Pacific Islands with a breadfruit that is productive and durable.
According to the SPC “Pacific Island governments want varieties of breadfruit that fruit all year round so that there is a continuous supply, which is vitally important for food security and also for commercial farmers and businesses based on breadfruit products.”
Earlier this month, the scientists harvested breadfruits which were cultured in test tubes. The Genetic Resources Coordinator of CePaCT, Valerie Saena-Tuia, stated "This first batch took about three years to grow from a tissue culture in a test tube to a fruit-producing tree, and the fruit took three months to mature from the flowering stage.”
She added “We’re happy to finally get some information on the timing for fruit bearing in particular with tissue culture plants, which will help to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge. However, there’s still a lot to learn in terms of which times of year certain varieties bear fruit, which varieties bear fruit all year round, which can tolerate certain diseases and which are drought or heat tolerant,"
CePaCT has distributed the breadfruit to several Pacific countries including Tonga. It has a regional breadfruit collection with a field genebank that consists of both root suckers and tissue culture materials.