News

The inaugural Ian and Janet McConachie Macadamia Conservation Grant has been awarded to Dr Albert Wong for his project: Tissue culture in the Tool-Kit to conserve Australia’s rarest Macadamia.

The grant will fund the extension of the QAAFI tissue culture project (reported on in the Spring 2024 AMS News Bulletin) to develop a specific tissue culture protocol for M. jansenii, a critically endangered, non-commercial species of macadamia.

The project was vetted by the scientific research committee of the Australian Flora Foundation, and funding approved for a total of $60,000 over three years.

Macadamia seeds, like most seeds of rainforest species, are not suitable for seed banking due to their intolerance to the drying and freezing steps involved.  Tissue culture offers an alternative solution to maintaining and storing living germplasm of this rare species and complements MCT’s other conservation projects for M. jansenii.

This grant recognises the significant and ongoing contribution to macadamia conservation made by Ian and Janet McConachie.