Analysing the value of kanuka

SAMPLES FOR TESTING: Richard Karei and Keith Stevenson collect samples for the kanuka optimisation project. Picture supplied

Ruatoria-based Hikurangi Bioactives has been making good progress on a project to learn more about the ecological and economic value of kanuka.

This week, the team is harvesting leaf material to be sent to Wellington for scientific analysis at Victoria University.

Alvaro Vidiella, from VLU Science in Gisborne, is supervising the science parts of the project and is excited by what the new tests will reveal.

“As soon as the samples arrive at Victoria University, the essential oil will be extracted with steam extraction equipment purpose-built for this project,” he says.

“The scientists at Victoria will determine the yield of each sample and analyse the chemical composition, using a technique called gas chromatography, to separate and identify the different chemical compounds in each sample.”

The results will help the scientists discover if the differences between samples from different trees in the same blocks, and trees on different blocks, are due to genetics or the growing environment.

“The next step will be to study the bioactivity of the oil samples on living organisms. This will help us learn more about the medical conditions that kanuka oil could treat.”

The project has been funded by the Ministry of Primary Industries’ Erosion Control Funding Programme. Community co-ordinator Bella Paenga says the results cannot come soon enough for local landowners.

“As we move out of the winter months, the reality that 26 percent of our lands is susceptible to severe erosion has never been as visible as in the amount of forestry slash, logs and debris that washed down our rivers and still blanket our beaches,” Ms Paenga says.

To prepare for the tests, Ms Paenga and the other harvesters did a test run to make sure all parts of the process were working smoothly.

Harvesting the leaf went well but the sample disappeared for a few days while in the care of the couriers, before turning up and being run through the equipment at Victoria University.

“This week we’ll be gathering 60 samples of leaf, each 200 grams in weight,” she says.

“It’s exciting to know that this work is going to make a difference to our future here on the Coast, leading to new ways for us to fix our environment and find innovative ways to create jobs and opportunities for our people.’