Chronica - Acta Horticulturae

and NSW prior to Tasmania), Bermuda, Bolivia,
Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Congo,
Cyprus, Ecuador, Egypt, Republic of Ireland,
England, Ethiopia, Fiji, France, Greece,
Guatemala, India, Italy, Jamaica, Madagascar,
Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria,
Palestine, Persia, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico,
United States, St. Helena, Spain, Sudan,
Sweden, Switzerland, Trinidad, Turkey, Russia,
South Africa and Zimbabwe (Gnadinger, 1945).
Ventures in these countries have largely been
unsuccessful for a multitude of reasons. In
recent times, apart from East Africa, Papua New
Guinea and more recently, Australia are the only
countries to develop self-sustaining pyrethrum
industries.
WINTER
Table 1. Production cycle of pyrethrum in Tasmania.
June
July
August
New plantings established in field from seed
SPRING September Disease control
October Fertiliser, irrigation
November Flowering disease control, irrigation
SUMMER December Harvesting commences, with “windrowing”, field drying of pyrethrum flowers
January Harvesting of windrows when moisture content reduced to less than 15% w/w
February Harvesting completed. Pyrethrum processing commences.
AUTUMN March Crop regrowth after harvesting. Post harvest weed control commences.
April
May
PRODUCTION OF
PYRETHRUM IN AUSTRALIA
Pyrethrum seedling.
Australian pyrethrum is grown exclusively in
Tasmania, the most southerly state in Australia.
Tasmania is an island state some 240 km south
of “mainland” Australia. Tasmania has a geographical
area of 68,331 km 2 (similar to West
Virginia or the Republic of Ireland). Tasmania
lies between latitudes 40° and 44° south, and
between longitudes 143° and 149° east.
Tasmania has a mild, temperate maritime
climate, with four distinct seasons.
Pyrethrum production is concentrated in the
north west of the state. This region is bounded
to the north by Bass Strait (a waterway separating
Tasmania from mainland Australia) and to
the south by the central highlands, a mountainous
region renowned internationally by bushwalkers
and nature lovers. Temperatures on the
North West Coast are moderate and consistent
with a summer mean maximum of 20°C and
winter mean maximum of 13°C. The annual
rainfall is around 750 mm, which mainly falls in
winter. Soil types are predominately “krasnozem”,
derived from basalt parent rock.
Winter and spring environmental conditions in
Tasmania are important factors for pyrethrum
flower production. Research by Dr. Phillip
Brown (1992) demonstrated that Tasmanian
day length and night temperatures are important
triggers to maximise flower production.
Both night temperatures and vernalisation trigger
pyrethrum to produce a single flush of flowers
during the early summer (December). Thus
Tasmania, in general, offers an excellent climate
for pyrethrum and other “extractable” crops
(including a sizeable pharmaceutical poppy
industry).
To the outside observer, it may seem incongruous
that the major production areas in the
world are now Kenya and Tasmania. However, it
should be noted that temperature, rainfall and
soil type in the Kenyan growing regions are
similar to Tasmania conditions. Kenyan production
is restricted to more temperate highland
areas around Nakuru in the Great Rift Valley.
Pyrethrum accumulation in oil glands appears
to be affected by high temperatures during flowering
as demonstrated in trials conducted in
Australia. Temperatures above 30°C are detrimental
to pyrethrins accumulation during flowering.
Pyrethrum rosettes in autumn around
6 months after planting.
THE HISTORY OF PRODUC-
TION IN AUSTRALIA
(Casida and Quistad, 1995)
The CSIRO commissioned a series of pyrethrum
production trials as far back as 1932. Minor trials
evaluating pyrethrum production are recorded
in 1932-35, 1944 and 1952 in various locations
in Canberra, NSW and Tasmania. These
culminated in a press release by CSIRO in 1952
which stated, “Attempts to grow pyrethrum on
a commercial scale in Australia over the past 20
years have failed primarily because production
costs were too high to allow the products to
compete with imported material from East
Africa. CSIRO considers that there is no reason
for believing that a further attempt at the present
time has any greater prospect of success”
(Bhat and Menary, 1984).
During the 1970s the Tasmanian State
Government and the University of Tasmania
investigated “alternative” crops with the aim of
diversifying Tasmania’s traditional commoditybased
agricultural economy. The focus of investigation
was high value extractable crops including
boronia, fennel, peppermint, and pyrethrum.
Pyrethrum research by the University of
Tasmania commenced in 1978, with Dr. Robert
Menary establishing a breeding program.
Collections for this program were obtained
from germplasm in Europe, Kenya, Japan, PNG
and India.
In 1981 Commonwealth Industrial Gases (CIG)
entered into an agreement with the University
of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Government to
develop a pyrethrum industry. CIG’s interest was
at that time stimulated by a shortage of East
African pyrethrum, which had impacted on
their production of “Pestigas,” CIG’s patented
CO 2 delivery system for pyrethrum.
CIG invested significantly in the Tasmanian
industry from 1981 until 1996. Considerable
advances were made with the mechanization of
the industry and developing processing technology.
However, in 1996, CIG’s parent company,
BOC, divested “CIG Pyrethrum.” Botanical
Resources Australia Pty Ltd (BRA), a consortium
of management and staff from CIG Pyrethrum,
led by the then Tasmanian Manager of CIG
Pyrethrum, Mr. Ian Folder, negotiated with BOC
to buy the Tasmanian industry. Today, BRA is a
majority Tasmanian owned private company.
PRODUCTION AND EXTRAC-
TION OF PYRETHRUM
East African production is very much dependant
on the availability of cheap labour, particularly
ISHS • 6