Cultivars basis for change

More than 100,000 kiwifruit cultivars are in a nationwide evaluation programme overseen by Plant & Food Research, including its site at Te Puke.

Zespri and the Government have invested more than $15 million over the past three years in a kiwifruit breeding project that may shape the future of the industry.

More than 100,000 cultivars are in a nationwide evaluation programme overseen by Plant & Food Research.

Business manager and kiwifruit sector champion Stuart Kay says kiwifruit accounted for 25 per cent of its business and was the biggest project of its type in the world.

It took about 10 years before any cultivar was ready to market commercially and it had successfully bred licensed varieties for Zespri, including Gold3/SunGold, Green14/Sweet Green and Gold9/Charm.

Zespri general manager of science and innovation Dr David Tanner said the ultimate objective was to identify cultivars resistant to Psa.

"Our seven to 15-year objective is to identify cultivars that are even more tolerant or resistant to Psa while ticking all the other boxes we're looking for like great taste, storage, consumer preference and performance throughout the supply chain.

"Zespri aims to market the world's leading portfolio of kiwifruit products and our investment in the breeding programme is a key part of that."

Kay said breeding was a numbers game.

Last year it grew 50,000 seedlings but only 10 to 20 would make it through the cull and on to the next stage.

"We do that by the numbers. The more numbers you have the more chances you get.

"It's critical the ones you have coming out at the other end are the right ones and to do that the industry has got a very detailed process.

"Breeding is critical and once you have that structure you look at them and some may have the traits that we want from the parents so you are constantly trying to get better parents."

Underpinning all the DNA and genetic work was consumer market information, productivity and profitable production for growers, he said. "For an example, it's all about increasing high dry matter in fruit to improve flavour for consumers and understanding the health properties from the crops we produce."

A lot of work had also focused on how well the fruit would store and ship, he said.

Once cultivars had passed the test they were planted on growers' properties. "They are not commercially released but we are growing them in a commercial way so if we do commercially release it then it will be a much faster process.

"That is why we were able to respond so quickly to Psa with G3. But more importantly we were able to answer questions around this cultivar and be able to produce it commercially and in a viable way.

"It gives us enough fruit to get into the marketplace and through the supply chain."

Kiwifruit Growers president Neil Treblico said that was the reason for the development of the gold category commercially and it would not have happened without the research done in New Zealand.

The relationship

*Plant & Food Research has an exclusive relationship with Zespri and ownership of cultivar streams to Zespri; it collects royalties that are reinvested in kiwifruit.
*Huge possibilities for kiwifruit range from smooth skin to something that looks like a teddy bear and others that change colour as they ripen.
*Zespri has a trial in Singapore on red kiwifruit