Patent Grant
PP17774
Genus and species of plant claimed: Actinidia chinensis.
Variety denomination: Hort51-1785.
Kiwi plants in cultivation are mainly varieties of A. deliciosa, particularly ‘Hayward’ although some A. chinensis and A. arguta varieties are grown. A. deliciosa and A. chinensis are closely related and varieties of both types have large fruit (˜100 g) with hair on the skin. The main varieties in New Zealand are ‘Hayward’ (A. deliciosa) and ‘Hort16A’ (A. chinensis). Fruit are usually cut and eaten with a spoon.
All Actinidia species are dioecious, so female varieties have to be interplanted with male pollinizers to ensure fruit production.
A. chinensis vines are deciduous and tend to grow vigorously in spring and summer when rapidly-growing shoots can intertwine and tangle if not managed. Vines do best in a mild warm-temperate climate without late spring or early autumn frosts. They produce consistently heavy crops when grown in well-drained fertile soils and given regular irrigation in dry spells.
A. chinensis flowers in spring (mid October-early December) in New Zealand. Harvest of A. chinensis fruit may occur between April and late-May in New Zealand depending on the selection and location of plantings.
The present invention is a new and distinctive kiwifruit variety having a generally globose shaped fruit with short, soft, silky hair and a golden yellow flesh when ripe. This new variety is designated ‘Hort51-1785’ and is derived from a controlled pollination using a female tetraploid A. chinensis selection ‘Jing Feng’ (also known as 79-3, and by the accession code CK34—01) of unknown parentage, and a male tetraploid A. chinensis selection CK40—02 of unknown parentage.
The female parent was introduced to New Zealand as vegetative plant material from Jiangxi, China. The male parent was selected in New Zealand from seedling plants raised from an introduction of seed from China in 1989. Both parents are unpatented.
This new variety was created during the course of a planned plant-breeding program, which was initiated during 1987 in Auckland, New Zealand. The cross was made on Nov. 24, 1994 in Te Puke, New Zealand. Seeds were sown in the winter of 1995 and 64 seedlings from this cross were planted out in the field at Te Puke in August 1996. The selection ‘Hort51-1785’ first flowered in November 1997 and fruit was first assessed in May 1998. Selection ‘Hort51-1785’ was grafted in 1998 onto four existing kiwifruit rootstocks in a clonal selection trial plot using graftwood from the original seedling plant.
The new variety can be asexually reproduced as cuttings or by grafting or budding on to seedling or cutting-grown rootstocks of A. deliciosa or A. chinensis. Trial plantings of grafted plants established at the Te Puke, Nelson and Kerikeri Research Centres in 1998 have shown that the unique combination of characters come true to form and are established and transmitted through succeeding asexual propagations.
‘Hort51-1785’ flowers at least two weeks later than Hort16A and requires specific tetraploid males to ensure adequate pollination.
Photographs of fruit were taken at the normal harvest date. Fruit skin color may vary depending upon extent of exposure to direct sunlight.
The new tetraploid kiwifruit variety ‘Hort51-1785’ is pistillate (female), and produces imperfect flowers, i.e. the flowers produce only sterile pollen and require a pollinizer to set fruit.
Horticultural terminology is used in accordance with revised UPOV guidelines for kiwi. All dimensions are in millimeters, weights in grams (unless otherwise stated). Color references are in accord with the R.H.S. Colour Chart, the Royal Horticultural Society, London, 1966.
1Measured in the middle of the cane i.e. halfway down the full length and midway between two buds.
Observations were made on plants growing at Te Puke, New Zealand. These plants had been grafted on to seedling kiwifruit rootstocks.
Color chart: R.H.S. Colour Chart, The Royal Horticultural Society, London, 1966.
The distinctive characteristics of this new kiwifruit variety, described in detail below, were observed in 2005 at Te Puke, New Zealand. The age of the plants was 6 years from grafting onto seedling rootstocks.
Comparison with similar varieties ‘Hort16A’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,066) and ‘KI 89’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,497) shows that ‘Hort51-1785’ may be distinguished as follows in Table 1.
Fruit of ‘Hort51-1785’ is globose in shape with a rounded stylar end compared with the ovoid shape and protruding stylar beak of ‘Hort16A’. The flesh of ‘Hort51-1785’ is golden yellow when ripe compared to the lighter yellow flesh of ‘Hort16A’ and the yellow-green flesh of ‘KI 89’. The skin of ‘Hort51-1785’ is a pale mid-brown color, whereas the skin of ‘Hort16A’ is yellow-brown and that of ‘KI 89’ is reddish-brown. The fruit of ‘Hort51-1785’ has conspicuous, raised lenticels on the skin, ‘Hort16A’ and ‘KI 89’ do not have raised lenticels.
The fruit of ‘Hort51-1785’ is generally larger sized, has lower brix, lower dry matter content, and higher flesh firmness at harvest than ‘Hort16A’. The fruit of ‘Hort51-1785’ is generally shorter but of greater diameter than fruit of either ‘Hort16A’ or ‘KI 89’.
The most striking difference between ‘Hort51-1785’ and the female parent ‘Jing Feng’ is that of fruit shape. ‘Hort51-1785’ has globose-shaped fruit with a ratio of maximum width/fruit length of 0.92 whereas ‘Jing Feng’ fruit is ellipsoidal in shape with a ratio of maximum width/fruit length of 0.78. ‘Hort51-1785’ fruit have a small internal cavity, average length 10.2 mm, at the stylar end, whereas ‘Jing Feng’ fruit has no cavity.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20060253946 P1 | Nov 2006 | US |
