CSIRO’s Merbein laboratory, in the heartland of Australian grape and citrus production, delivers high quality science relevant to industry.
CSIRO’s Merbein laboratory, in the heartland of Australian grape and citrus production. It is ideally located for a national research facility. We deliver high-quality science connected directly to industry.
The Merbein laboratory was established in 1919 and has a history of successful research for Australian horticulture.
CSIRO also has a 15 hectare field site located nearby at Koorlong, Victoria which supports the research activities at Merbein Laboratory.
Activities
Our researchers use conventional and gene technology approaches including evaluation of transgenics to understand and manipulate the way plant genes interact with the environment.
New low to medium vigour rootstocks have been released to industry and are being evaluated with a range of scion varieties in a range of regions.
CSIRO has 10 easy peel sweet mandarin selections under evaluation nationally. In 2005, with industry and state agency partners, we released two new table grape selections for commercial production.
Citrus
CSIRO citrus research has led to protocols that reduce albedo breakdown, the major navel orange rind blemish, by up to 30 per cent.
Native lime hybrids bred by CSIRO are available for:
Dried fruit
Virtually the entire Australian dried grape industry relies on CSIRO clones and varieties. These include the:
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standard Sultana H5 clone
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rain-tolerant currant variety Carina
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rain-tolerant Sunmuscat sultana.
Sunmuscat is a joint development with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Wine
Light mechanical pruning developed by CSIRO has contributed to Australia’s wine export performance by lowering costs while retaining and improving yield and quality.
The introduction and evaluation of nematode-tolerant rootstocks has been a further advantage.
Estimates of the value of these two wine industry innovations alone exceed A$150 million per annum.
CSIRO wine grape varieties Tarrango, Tyrian and Cienna have achieved success as bottled varietal wines. Tyrian is also used in blends.
CSIRO research within the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Viticulture includes:
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grapevine physiology
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salt tolerance
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water use efficiency.
This work has contributed to the development of VineLOGIC, an advanced software package for use in viticultural education and training.
Virtually the entire Australian dried grape industry is reliant on CSIRO varieties, from Sultana to Carina to Sunmuscat.
Cooperative linkages
Scientists at Merbein laboratory have actively collaborated with other organisations for many years. For example, we play a lead role in the Riverlink network of regional horticultural research and extension providers.
This extends to postgraduate training, through:
Merbein Laboratory scientists also work with:
Merbein laboratory is a node of Provisor Pty Ltd, a Major National Research Facility.
Personnel
40 staff work at Merbein, comprising:
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research scientists
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postdoctoral fellows
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PhD students
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technical support
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farm support
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administrative support.
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Read about CSIRO citrus research.
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