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UPL product development and regulatory lead Australia & NZ, George Follas (left), and Plant & Food Research senior commercialisation manager, Greg Pringle, with Aureo®Gold
Award-winning biological organism emerges from archives The finding of a yeast-like growth on Central Otago apricots, as opposed to the expected brown rot, prompted Plant & Food Research Ltd (PFR) scientist, Phil Elmer, to investigate what it was. Elaine Fisher Twenty years on, the organism Phil identified as keeping bacteria responsible for deterioration at bay is now the vital ingredient of Aureo®Gold – a new biocontrol product, developed by PFR and its commercial partner UPL, with the support of Zespri and Kiwifruit Vine Health (KVH). Its launch by UPL in November 2018 marked an important milestone in the New Zealand kiwifruit industry’s ongoing efforts to better manage the kiwifruit disease Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae (‘Psa’). 22
The ORCHARDIST : FEBRUARY 2022
Greg Pringle, senior commercialisation manager at PFR, says at the time Phil isolated the organism, there was no apparent application for it. The organism was subsequently recorded and stored among his team’s extensive bank of organisms and held until it may be needed. That need came in 2010 when the kiwifruit vine disease Psa was discovered in New Zealand, threatening the future of the industry.
