Italy: New golden kiwi variety set to go commerical

It was reported very recently that the universities of Bologna and Udine in Italy had developed a new variety of gold kiwifruit. Professor Guglielmo Costa, who has been co-responsible for the development of the new variety, says that it has been around 10 years in the making.

He says that over that period much analysis and evaluation took place which enabled him and his partners to realise that this was a variety worth taking all the way.

"We concluded that this was a variety worth giving a name too," he says. This is still a little way off yet, as once a name is proposed it must be established that it is not already in use, but Professor Costa already has an idea in mind for the name he would like to use.

He's not sure yet how long it will take for the new variety to be commercially available, but again, he has his ideas of when he would like to see it become available. "For me before now would be good! However, there are rules that must be respected.

"The new variety will be presented on the 10th September and this will be followed, close to the end of the month, by expressions of interest. If we are satisfied with the expression and the university is satisfied with the expression, then we will see how long it takes."

Professor Costa describes what sounds like a very promising and exciting new variety of fruit:

"There are several characteristics that lead us to conclude that this was a variety worth developing.

"The first thing of note is that it is an early ripening variety - some years we have picked it as early as September 1st, so it would probably be the earliest variety on the market.

"Also, for an early variety it is a large fruit - about 100g in weight. It has brilliant yellow flesh, is regularly shaped and has no beak. The sugar content is also very high, like all Actinidia chinensis varieties, so it is very good to eat."

Which is perhaps the main thing, though Professor Costa says there is also another benefit. "Surprisingly for an early variety it has a very long cold storage life. We trialled it only in normal conditions, not with controlled atmosphere of course, as it does not need to last too long - it's an early variety and it needs to keep fresh only until the later varieties come available - but it did very well."

He says the plant itself is also good to cultivate as it is not too vigorous and does not require thinning.

Perhaps another thing that many people will be looking for is the PSA resistance level of the new variety.

"You have to bear in mind that the development of this variety began 10 years ago, before PSA was much of a problem, so resistance isn't something we were looking for. However, the indications are that this variety is as good as anything else that is on the market right now.

"Certainly in tests we have done it hasn't shown any signs of being particularly susceptible to PSA."

Another piece of good news is that, like kiwifruit generally, it only takes two years from grafting for the vine to bear fruit.

For more information:
http://www.unibo.it