After checking the availability of pineapple plants on the Island as rootstock for modern cultivation, the Alliance applied for and obtained a permit from Biosecurity Australia to import tissue cultured plantlets of pineapples. A shipment arrived in September 2023 and has been deflasked into pots ready for planting in the field early in 2024.
Photos of typical plantlets as they are to be supplied are available here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/mNzMf1hiJPyEQycC6 (either small or more advanced).
The website of one of the Australian growers NQ Paradise Pine www.paradisepines.com.au/ has this to say about this variety:
73-50
In Australia if you head into a supermarket or any fruit shop and your pineapple is without a top it is probably the hybrid variety known as 73-50. Hybrid 73-50 was developed by the Hawaiian Pineapple Research Institute (PRI, dissolved in 1975). It was imported into Australia in 1987 by a farmer from near Woodford (SE QLD) who realised its potential and as legend has it brought six plants into Australia in a suitcase. These pineapples were marketed as Bethonga Gold. The crowns of the 73-50 were removed by the Bethonga grower to stop other growers from cultivating the variety via planting the tops. The topless feature stuck as the variety gained popularity with consumers through the large supermarkets. The custom has an adverse affect on the look of pineapple as the fruit tends to dehydrate faster with the top removed. Many in the industry would prefer to see the custom done away with, but the chain stores seem to want the practice to continue.
The 73-50 is a sweet pineapple. Its parentage includes 54% Cayenne, 20% Mordilona, 13% Pernambuco, 13% Red Spanish and 3% Queen. It was considered by PRI breeders to be a high yielding cultivar with low acidity and high vitamin C . This selection has been grown on an increasing scale in Australia under various names. All usually suffixed with “Gold”. For example Rollingstone Gold, Mareeba Gold, Aussie Gold and Pure Gold from the various pack houses. They are all the same variety. It is Australia’s largest hybrid pineapple crop, although the MD2 is gaining in popularity.
The acidity of the 73-50 is only about half that of the Smooth Cayenne variety in early winter. The vitamin C content of the 73-50 is about 5 times greater than the Cayenne in winter. 73-50s normally have a very aromatic flavour, and when naturally ripened and picked with breaking colour produce a gorgeous perfume that demands attention. The 73-50 has a slightly smaller core than the Cayenne in comparison to the fruit width, and the flesh is more yellow. The 73-50 has a useful level of field resistance to blackheart (rotten core) but can be susceptible to internal browning.
Please note that 73-50 is not the product of modern genetic engineering. It is a result of conventional hybridisation. (The pink ornamental pineapple has been genetically engineered but is not known to be on Norfolk Island).