Wuhan Botanical Garden holds open day event showcasing large variety of kiwifruit

Photo shows the Actinidia macrosperma, a kiwifruit species. (Photo courtesy of the Wuhan Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Science)

An open day event on kiwifruit was held at the Wuhan Botanical Garden under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, central China’s Hubei province, on Sept. 23.

The event showcased various kiwifruit varieties, during which researchers from the botanical garden’s National Kiwifruit Germplasm Repository introduced knowledge about the fruit to visitors, including primary school students.

Kiwifruit, the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia, is native to China, and New Zealand kiwifruit is of Chinese origin, said Li Dawei, an expert at the National Kiwifruit Germplasm Repository.

The genus Actinidia comprises 54 species, whose flesh varies in color and taste, Li said. For example, the Actinidia arguta, a teeny-tiny version of kiwifruit without a fuzzy exterior, is notable for its edible skin.

“China is the country with the richest natural resources of kiwifruit in the world, and most of the kiwifruit species are endemic to China,” said Zhong Caihong, a researcher at the botanical garden.

The National Kiwifruit Germplasm Repository has constructed a kiwifruit germplasm repository with the most diversified genetic resources and germplasms in the world. As a major germplasm repository for gathering and preserving Actinidia genetic resources, it has gathered and preserved over 1,040 copies of 66 Actinidia species or varieties, and over 120 cultivars. Moreover, it has bred 44 new kiwifruit varieties.

Donghong kiwifruit is a shining example of new cultivars developed by the botanical garden’s breeding team. Famous for its golden-yellow fresh with red tufts of color radiating around the seeds, it won the Fruit Logistica Innovation Award at the Fruit Logistica 2019 event in Berlin. Nearly 20,000 hectares of Donghong kiwifruit have already been planted across China.