Tender Advertisement #1121932

Request for Proposal: Investigating soil pH and nutrition as possible factors influencing pink rot in potatoes – a pilot study
Hort Innovation is a not-for-profit, grower-owned Research and Development Corporation (RDC) for Australia’s $13.2 billion horticulture industry. Hort Innovation invests around $110 million in research and development (R&D) and marketing programs annually to provide benefit to industry and the wider community.
Hort Innovation is seeking a suitably qualified, experienced and capable delivery partner for the project: Investigating soil pH and nutrition as possible factors influencing pink rot in potatoes – a pilot study (PT19000).
The primary objective of this pilot project is to determine whether there is a causative relationship between pH and soil nutrients with pathogen load and disease severity of pink rot, with a view to providing insight into whether this should be researched in more depth. Specifically, the pilot aims to:
• Determine whether levels of acidifying (particularly ammonium based) fertilisers influence pathogen load and disease expression
• Determine whether increasing the pH, such as through the addition of lime, has a suppressive effect on pathogen load and disease expression
• Understand whether nitrogen, calcium and other soil nutrients levels play a role, independently of soil pH, in suppressing or exacerbating pathogen load and disease expression
• Providing recommendations as to whether pH and fertiliser use should be explored in more depth for improved pink rot management.
Hort Innovation has prepared a Request for Proposal (RFP) document that provides background information, outlines the scope of services, the procurement process and the information required from interested parties. The RFP may be downloaded from www.tenders.net (you will need to be a member of tenders.net to access this information).
The closing date for responses is 5.00pm (AEDT), 6 April 2020.