Two manuka plantations have been set up in Tasmania to look at the possibility of commercially produced, medical-grade manuka honey for hospitals.
PhD student Chris Wellington, who manages a property just north of Bicheno on Tasmania's east coast, has planted 1.2 hectares of Leptospermum scoparium, the shrub used to produce manuka honey.
The pink-flowering shrub is commonly known as manuka.
Mr Wellington is almost halfway through his three-and-a-half-year project and is excited about where it's at.
"Manuka has a specific antibacterial activity that's different from other honey," he said.
"The leptospermum genus is the only one that has a compound in the nectar called dihydroxyacetone (DHA). When the bees collect the nectar, the DHA matures into another compound called methylglyoxal (MGO) — the higher the MGO rating the higher the antibacterial activity.
"Highly active medicinal honey is valued for its wound-healing properties and potential to fight bacteria that can become resistant to antibiotics.
"So the idea here is to have plantations of consistently high DHA-producing plants."
In supermarkets the MGO rating on manuka honey packaging ranges from zero to 100+. In health food stores it can go as high as 850+.
Mr Wellington is aiming to produce MGO levels of 800+ or more for medical use in hospitals.
Healing honey hotspots
University of Technology Sydney research associate Nural Cokcetin said there were several regions in Australia that were 'hotspots' yielding high-value healing honey.
Dr Cokcetin said Australian honey producers had a potentially abundant source of medical-grade, high-value leptospermum honey.
Australia was home to more than 80 leptospermum species, with some endemic to Tasmania.
Mr Wellington was looking for a way control production and produce consistent levels of MGO.
"In the past, the common way of beekeeping is to take the beehives to where the plants naturally grow, such as in national parks and forest reserves," he said.
"But for a stand of manuka plants in the wild, there's a blend of plants that might have low or high DHA in the nectar, so you can't control what you're going to get."
Leptospermum plants
CSIRO's Tony O'Grady has spent the past four years traveling around Tasmania collecting leptospermum plant specimens.
He also collected cuttings to grow his own plants and potentially produce a copy of the mother, that is, trying to make them all the same.
With another plantation in southern Tasmanian, Mr O'Grady and Mr Wellington were working together to see if location or other factors impacted the ability to consistently produce medical-grade honey.
Mr O'Grady said one of the key constraints right now was future access to pollination.
Another restraint was the additional risks of climate change and fires.
"Can we de-risk by increasing the availability of floral resources in the landscape?" he said.
Northern Tasmanian honey producer Nicola Charles also produced and sold high-level MGO manuka honey to customers.
"We have produced levels between 250 and 650," Ms Charles said.
"If Chris Wellington can get a plantation that could push up to medical-grade level it would be a great product to help with sore throats and post-surgery options.
"It would be a fantastic opportunity for Tasmania. We know Tasmania grows great manuka already, and potentially these plantations would be brilliant for the industry."
