Associate ProfessorNigel Swarts

It doesn’t take a scientist to tell you that red cherries are a tangy, delicious treat. It does, however, take a scientist, or an inquisitive child, to ask what makes them red. Tasmanian Institute of Agriculture researcher Nadine Macha is hoping to find out more about a special kind of antioxidants called anthocyanins that do just that.

Despite the economic importance of the Australian apple industry, little is known about the condition, characteristics and properties of Australian apple growing soils. This study, as part of the apple and pear levy-funded PIPS II Nitrogen fertigation project (AP14023), aimed to determine the physical and chemical attributes of typical apple-growing soils in four regions.

Researchers are using nitrogen-tracing technology to help improve apple fruit quality and optimise nitrogen use efficiency by investigating the fate of nitrogen derived from fertiliser over two seasons.

The results from the second season of a fertigation project run in an apple orchard at Lucaston, Tasmania, are in. The research aims to understand how efficiently apple trees use water and nitrogen and how the timing and rate of these can be manipulated to consistently produce high quality fruit.

University of Tasmania