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ACTINIDIA CHINENSIS

chinese gooseberry=kiwi=kiwi vine

Actinidia chinensis (Planch.), known commercially as the golden kiwifruit, is a fruiting vine, native to China.
Actinidia chinensis is one of some 40 related species of the genus Actinidia, and closely related to Actinidia deliciosa, which is the source of the most common commercial kiwifruit.
Fruit colour may vary from green to lime green or gold, depending on breeding.

Actinidia chinensis has a smooth, bronze skin, with a beak shape at the stem attachment.
Flesh colour of Actinidia chinensis varies from bright green to a clear, intense yellow.
This species is sweeter and more aromatic in flavour compared to A. deliciosa, similar to some subtropical fruits.
One of the most attractive varieties has a red 'iris' around the centre of the fruit and yellow flesh outside.
The yellow fruit obtains a higher market price and, being less hairy than the fuzzy kiwifruit, is more palatable for consumption without peeling.

'Hort16A' is a golden kiwifruit cultivar marketed worldwide, first as Zespri Gold, then as SunGold.
This cultivar suffered significant losses in New Zealand from late 2010 to 2013 due to the PSA bacterium.
A new cultivar of golden kiwifruit, 'Zesy002', was found to be more disease-resistant and most growers changed to this cultivar, with its worldwide demand continuing into 2019.

In its native habitat Actinidia chinensis grows in thickets, thick (oak) forests (e.g. Quercus aquifolioides, Quercus oxyodon, Quercus lamellosa), and light secondary forests and bushland.
A. chinensis prefers slopes and likes also to grow in ravines, top heights of 200–230 m (660–750 ft), relative to the local microclimate.
In Western gardens Actinidia chinensis may range 30 feet (9.1 m) in all directions, making it unsuitable for all but the largest spaces unless pruned back hard at the end of every growing season.

The origin of Actinidia chinensis is from Hubei or Sichuan, China exported to New Zealand in 1904.
In China, Actinidia chinensis is dispersed in the entire southeast of the country.
Actinidia chinensis was first grown commercially in New Zealand, where it has been bred commercially as the variety, Actinidia deliciosa.

Herbarium specimens, but not plants, were forwarded to the Royal Horticultural Society by the British plant hunter Robert Fortune, from which Jules Émile Planchon named the new genus in the London Journal of Botany, 1847.
Charles Maries, collecting for Messrs Veitch noted it in Japan, but the introduction to Western horticulture was from E.H. Wilson, who sent seeds collected in Hupeh to Veitch in 1900.

The fruits – about the size of a chicken egg – are edible, providing a rich source of vitamin C and dietary fiber.

Chinese gooseberry is a rapidly growing woody deciduous climbing vine in the Actinidiaceae family.
Actinidia chinensis can be grown in a variety of soil and pH conditions but prefers moist, loamy, neutral, well-drained soil.
Actinidia chinensis will produce its fruits in both full sun and semi-shade, however, the best fruit production will occur in full sun.
Actinidia chinensis's rapid growth rate makes it a great choice for sturdy trellises, arbors, fences, or walls.
Slightly more cold hardy than Actinidia kolomikta and Actinidia melanandra.

Actinidia chinensis can be found growing in thickets and oak forests on slopes or in ravines.
This dioecious climber has either male or female flowers.
For propagation, both need to be grown to be pollinated by bees and insects.

The leaves and fruit are both edible.
The flavorful fruits which are rich with vitamin C contain small seeds that are typically eaten with the fruit.
When slightly soft under pressure, they are ready to eat.
Very soft fruit is considered too ripe and not edible.

Flower buds emerge from last year's stems, so pruning in the fall or winter is discouraged.

Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No serious insect or disease problems.
Occasional root-knot nematodes, thrips, passion vine hopper, crown gall, root rot may affect the plant.
They are not cold hardy.
Actinidia chinensis's rapid growth can quickly get out of hand if not closely monitored.

Actinidia chinensis (Chinese gooseberry, kiwifruit or yang tao) is native to China.
Seeds were brought to New Zealand in 1904 and have since been developed into the cultivars known today as kiwifruit.
The common (‘Hayward’) cultivar is known today as Actinidia deliciosa.
Arcus was the first to obtain a crude preparation of the cysteine proteinase and to describe some of its properties.
He was prompted to search for an enzyme from A. chinensis by the observation that incorporation of the raw fruit into table jelly prevents it from setting.
McDowall published the first work on actinidain purified to crystallinity.
Work at Massey University over the following decade resulted in publication of detailed studies on the primary sequence, X-ray crystal structure and specificity and kinetics of esterolytic activity.
Subsequent work investigated its catalytic characteristics and catalytic site characteristics and electrostatic fields within actinidain and related enzymes.
More recently, attention has turned to its occurrence in a range of Actinidia species and cultivars, its possible allergenicity, its potential applications in food processing, and its proposed role in aiding digestion of proteins in the gastrointestinal tract.

The name actinidin, which derives from Actinidia, the genus of the source plant was first proposed by Arcus in 1959.
Actinidin has been referred to as Actinidia anionic protease and was changed to actinidain in keeping with retaining the suffix ‘-ain’ for cysteine peptidases, although some authors continue to use actinidin.

Actinidia chinensis and A. deliciosa flower in mid to late spring and the fruit are ready for harvest nearly 6 months later in late autumn.
Harvest maturity is taken as the stage at which fruit can be harvested from the vine and yet continue to develop to give an acceptable final eating quality which meets consumers' expectations.
Fruit that are picked too early often have a poor color and flavor when ripened, a shorter storage life, and a shorter shelf-life when taken out of storage.
However, fruit soften as they remain on the vine and if they are picked too late they may be not firm enough for handling, grading, and subsequent storage.
Harvest maturity cannot be gaged by the external appearance of the fruit, and if there are no heavy frosts or bird attack, the fruit can hang on the vines until budbreak the following season.

Changes in the chemical composition of the fruit as they mature on the vine are therefore used to determine when fruit may be safely picked.
Maturity values are taken on representative samples of fruit from vines of an individual maturity area, an area in which the vines are presumed to be similar through uniformity of age, management, and growing environment.
The harvest maturity of ‘Hayward’ kiwifruit is usually assessed using the soluble solids content of the fruit as determined using a refractometer.
As the fruit mature, the soluble solids content increases, largely as a result of the conversion of starch to sugars.
In New Zealand, a minimum maturity index of 6.2 Brix is normally used following a standardized measurement procedure: in other countries, a minimum of 6.5 Brix has been set.
Dry matter has also been used as an additional harvest index attribute.
Other parameters may be more appropriate for different cultivars or different environments.
The fruit of ‘Hort16A’, for example, are promoted in the marketplace for their yellow fruit flesh, but the chlorophyl in the pericarp is lost relatively late in the season and the harvest maturity indices currently recommended therefore include attributes such as soluble solids content (Brix), firmness, and hue angle.

Although kiwifruit are relatively firm when picked, they are still easily damaged if handled roughly.
Fruit of ‘Hort16A’ are particularly prone to damage because their sharp ‘beaks’ can cause small wounds which allow the entry of fungal rots.
Fruit are therefore picked by hand and grading equipment is designed to minimize injury.

The kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis) is also named kiwi or Chinese gooseberry.
These small fruits contain plenty of antioxidants and phytonutrients that protect the DNA.
Maintain blood glucose levels under control, protect the heart and colon, prevent asthma, and fight against macular degenerative diseases.
They can also reduce the risk of blood clots.

Kiwi are very tasty, eaten as such or can be added to salads, along with cold soups or in fruit tart composition.
The fruit is ripe and ready to be eaten when it is slightly soft under a slight pressure exerted by the finger.
If it is very soft, it is too ripe and is no longer good for eating.

Stems
One-year-old shoots are covered with brownish red stiff hairs.
Two-year-old stems are brownish red with oblong lenticels; pith is lamellate, white or pale yellow.

Leaves
Papery: nearly round; leaf blade is 12-17 cm long and 10-15 cm broad; retuse to mucronate at apex and round or cordate at base.
Margin is serrated as long and thin teeth.
The upper leaf surface is covered with scabrid-hispid pubescence.
The lower surface is silvery-gray, densely covered with white stellate hairs; main and secondary veins are whitish-green, densely covered with white stellate hairs.
The petiole is covered with ferruginous hispid-setose pubescence, and c. 3.5-7.5 cm long.

Flowers
Cyme inflorescence with few flowers.
Pedicel is c. 1-2 cm long, with small bracts on which there are stripes on the surface.
Calyx has five sepals, c. 14-15 mm long and 10-12 mm broad; broadly obovate, round at apex with short fingernail-like tips.
The flowers are c. 0.8-1.0 cm in diameter, opening white but turning yellow-orange; five petals, sometimes three to four; long ovate, c. 8-10 mm long.
Styles are c. 5-6 mm long with slightly swollen stigma.
Ovary is nearly globose, 6-7 mm in diameter, densely covered with white pubescence.

Fruit
Mostly nearly globose to ellipsoid, c. 2-3 cm across.
The skin is densely covered with long, stiff, coarse brown hairs.
The fruit average 28 g; pericarp light green with large core.
Numerous seeds in fruit, long, elliptical.
The fruit ripen in early July, light sweetly acid flavor and juicy.
VC content is 79.5 mg per 100 g fresh weight.
Soluble solids content is 10.5% and total acidity 1.3%.

General Description
Although native to China, it was commercialisation of this climber in New Zealand (and clever marketing under the name kiwi fruit) that made it the popular and widespread fruit it is today.
Actinidia chinensis is grown in temperate gardens for its large heart-shaped leaves and creamy-white, scented flowers, but throughout much of the world it is better known as a commercial fruit.

The species was considered to be a variety of Actinidia latifolia, namely A. latifolia var. deliciosa when first described in 1940 by the French botanist Auguste Jean Baptiste Chevalier (1873-1956).
Actinidia chinensis achieved full species status in 1984 when Liang and Ferguson published the name Actinidia deliciosa but is now referred to as a variety of A. chinensis.
Another wild relative, A. kolomikta, also has edible fruits.

Species Profile
Geography and distribution
Native to China, mainly in the southern and central parts, in mountain forests at 800-1400 m.
Actinidia deliciosa is widely cultivated in many countries, including New Zealand, Brazil, Chile and Italy.
The most common cultivar in commercial production is 'Hayward'.

Description
Overview: A dioecious (individual plants are either male or female), vigorous woody vine with large, leathery heart-shaped green leaves up to 25 cm across, which turn a reddish colour in autumn.

Flowers: Creamy-white to yellow, slightly scented and up to around 5 cm across.
They are produced in the leaf axils in May-June and pollinated by bees.
Female plants bear fruit if pollinated. Self-fertile cultivars have been bred.

Fruits: The well-known fruit is a brown-skinned, oval berry, up to 8 cm long, covered with fine hairs.
The edible flesh is bright green with numerous tiny black seeds.

The Chinese gooseberry becomes a kiwi
A New Zealand teacher, Mary Isabel Fraser, is credited with introducing Actinidia deliciosa from China to her homeland in 1904 after returning from a visit to a Chinese mission in Yichang on the Yangtze River.
She arrived back in New Zealand with seeds of what was then called Chinese, or Ichang, gooseberry, and from these a local nurseryman produced plants that first fruited in 1910.

However, large scale commercial fruit production for the international market did not begin until the 1970s when the fruits of improved varieties were successfully marketed using the name kiwi fruit.
The crop is now grown not only in New Zealand but also in Brazil, Chile, Australia, Italy (the world's top producer) and elsewhere.
In New Zealand it has escaped from cultivation and is considered to be potentially invasive in forests.

Uses
In China, the fruit is called 'yangtao', meaning 'strawberry peach', and has been cultivated for at least 300 years (there are over 400 varieties in China alone).
Wild fruits are also harvested.
Today, Italy is the world's top producer of kiwi fruit, followed by New Zealand and Chile.
The fruit is a good source of vitamin C, vitamin E and a range of B vitamins as well as dietary fibre.
Actinidin, an enzyme present in the fruit, can be used as a meat tenderizer.

Research indicates that kiwi fruit could be of potential benefit in preventing and halting some processes that lead to cardiovascular disease.

Actinidia deliciosa makes an attractive ornamental climber.

This species at Kew
Actinidia deliciosa can be seen growing in the Berberis Dell at Kew.

Actinidia chinensis Planch. (A. chinensis), commonly known as Chinese kiwifruit, is a China native fruit, which becomes increasingly popular due to attractive economic, nutritional, and health benefits properties.
The whole plant including fruits, leaves, vines, and roots of A. chinensis are used mainly as food or additive in food products and as folk medicine in China.
Actinidia chinensis is a good source of triterpenoids, polyphenols, vitamin C, carbohydrate, amino acid, and minerals.
These constituents render the A. chinensis with a wide range of pharmacological properties including antitumor, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, hypolipemic, antidiabetic, and cardiovascular protective activities, suggesting that it may possibly be value in the prevention and treatment of pathologies associated to cancer, oxidative stress, and aging.

Actinidia chinensis Planch. (A. chinensis), commonly known as “Chinese kiwifruit” (English), “中华猕猴桃” (Chinese), and characterized by excessive vegetative vigor, is a woody perennial, deciduous, and functionally dioecious medicinal plant in the family Actinidiaceae.
Actinidia chinensis is native to China and has been cultivated in New Zealand, United States, Greece, Italy, Chile, France, Japan, and Korea.
In China, they are mainly distributed in temperate to warm-temperate zones such as Shaanxi, Gansu, Henan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Guizhou, Yunnan, Sichuan, as well as the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin, especially in Yiling district in Yichang city, Hubei province.
There are 13 A. chinensis cultivars, especially “Hongyang,” “Jintao,” and “Huayou,” are developed for commercial production in China, and more than three ones such as “Sungold,” “Charm,” and “Hort16A” developed in New Zealand.

There are two varieties accepted by The Plant List that include A. chinensis and A. chinensis var. setosa H.L.Li.
The fruit of A. chinensis is the largest one in Actinidia genus, and it has the greatest economic, medicinal, and edible significance in terms of production and utilization.
Generally, Chinese kiwifruit with a cross-sectional radius of about 3 cm is oval-shaped densely covered with yellowish-brown hairs.
The flesh color of fruit skin is green to yellow, and the average fruit weight is 20–120 g.
The fruit is a tasty, nutritious food that can be eaten fresh directly.
Today, a range of kiwifruit processed products with the attractive eating quality and nutritional benefits has been developed including juice, preserved fruit, yogurt, wine, canned fruit, dried kiwi slices, fruit vegetable juice drinks, milk beverage, and vinegar.
Apart from being a food and natural health product, the whole plant (fruits, branches and leaves, vines and roots) of A. chinensis has been used as traditional folk medicine in China.
The ripe kiwifruit, tastes sweet and sour, acts on the spleen, stomach, and kidney meridians, has improving properties on dyspepsia, loss of appetite, and vomiting.
The branches and leaves have been used to treat arthronalgia, bleeding, empyrosis, and ulcer.
The vine has appetizing, heat clearing, and wind-dampness dispelling effects and is used to treat indigestion, aundice, and urolithiasis.
The root and bark of A. chinensis taste bitter and astringent, and they have various medical effects such as wind and heat dispelling, blood circulation improving, and detumescence properties, and are used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, bruises, furuncle, swelling, filariasis, hepatitis, and dysentery.
However, people with weak spleen and stomach should be cautious in taking A. chinensis.

The principal chemical composition of the whole plant of A. chinensis include polyphenol, triterpenoids and derivatives, carotenoids, polysaccharides, amino acids, vitamins, essential oils, and microelements.
Among these ingredients, the main bioactive constituents are phenolic compounds, triterpenes, and the major nutritional composition are vitamin C, vitamin E, dietary fiber, and microelements, which make up a relatively significant share of the daily value.
Pharmacological results have revealed various promising bioactivities to A. chinensis including antitumor, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, immunoregulatory, hypolipemic and antidiabetic, cardiovascular protective, hypnotic effects, and ACE inhibitory activities.
Much of these bioactivities of A. chinensis are consistent with those observed in traditional folk medicine.
More importantly, A. chinensis showed significantly antitumor and antioxidant properties, and these effects could be depended on the presence of a range of triterpenoids, polysaccharide, and phenolic compounds.
However, the information on the chemical and biological activities of A. chinensis is scattered.

Chinese kiwifruit, known as the “king of fruits,” is a fruit with high-pulp juices, thick flesh, delicious taste, and rich nutrition and has a higher commercial and economic value.
Actinidia chinensis is a rich source of various nutrients including vitamins, carbohydrate, sugar, minerals, amino acids, protein, fatty acids (e.g., linoleic acid), and carotenoids.
Of particular note, nutritional composition in kiwifruit is vitamin C (1.61 mg/g) and minerals K (3.15 mg/g).
The average vitamin C content of Huayou, Jintao, Ganmi-1, Ganmi-2, Ganmi-3, Wuzhi-3, and Cuiyu cultivated in China are 1.59, 1.49, 0.86, 1.34, 0.97, 2.88, and 1.18 mg/g, respectively. Meanwhile, the vitamin C in SunGold was 1.61 mg/g edible flesh, followed by other varieties Sweet Green (1.5 mg/g) and green “Hayward” (0.85 mg/g).
Especially, the vitamin C content in kiwifruit is higher than that determined in lemon, orange, strawberry, and grapefruits.

The phenolic compounds abundantly presented in different botanical parts of A. chinensis, and they have drawn increasing attention.
These compounds include phenols, flavonoids, and flavanols are characterized by antitumor, antioxidant, and free radicals scavenging properties.
HPLC-PAD and UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS-based methods have been used generally for the identification and quantification of these phenolic compounds.
The total phenolic, flavonoid, and flavanol contents from young A. chinensis kiwifruits growing in 20 days are 82.84 mg GAE/g FDW, 30.08 catechin/g equivalents FDW, and 20.20 catechin/g equivalents FDW.
Meanwhile, the total phenolic, flavonoid, and flavanol contents presented in young A. chinensis kiwifruits growing in 60 days and mature kiwifruits are gradually decreasing, indicating polyphenol content possesses a decreasing pattern during fruit ripening.
The major chemical composition of phenolics detected in young fruits are epicatechin, quercitrin, rutin, catechin, chlorogenic acid, ferulic acid, and vanillic acid.

The volatile components of A. chinensis var. chinensis fruit and flowers have been profiled by GC-MS.
The dominant volatile components of eating-ripe firmness fruit are straight-chain aldehydes, alcohols, and esters, such as hexanal, decanal, octanal, nonanal, benzaldehyde, acetaldehyde, hex-E2-enal, 1,8-cineole, ethanol, hexanol, methyl butanoate, and ethyl octanoate.
The volatile components of flowers included (3E,6E)-α-farnesene (38.8%), pentadecane (12.49%), (+)-germacrene D (8.55%), heptadecane (8.01%), (8Z)-heptadecene (7.72%), 2-phenylethano (4.69%), (3Z,6Z,9Z)-heptadecatriene (2.54%), and nonadecane (1.98%).
It can be found that terpenes and straight chain alkenes were dominant in flowers of A. chinensis var. chinensis, which contained nearly >92% of the total ion counts.
Importantly, many of these compounds possess strong and interesting aroma.
However, the volatile components gradually changed during maturation.
The essential oil of roots of A. chinensis have been profiled by GC-MS, and the major essential oil in roots are dodecane (29.39%), octane (5.16%), decane (2.94%), paeonal (2.81%), camphor (2.77%), n-decanoic acid (2.64%), 4-Methyldodecane (2.45%), undecane (2.16%), and linalool oxide (2.1%).

Carotenoids and chlorophyll are responsible for the color and attractiveness of kiwifruit fruits, as well as provide nutritional values.
The carotenoids detected in the red-fleshed genotypes of A. chinensis fruit (Hort16A) are 9′-cis-neoxanthin, violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, and β-carotene. Chlorophylls a and b are the dominant chlorophylls in Hort16A.

A. chinensis contains a range of bioactive compounds accounting for natural pharmacological properties including antitumor, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunoregulatory, hypolipemic, antidiabetic, and cardiovascular protective activities, and most of these biological activities support its traditional use.

Of all the various Actinidia species, A. chinensis is most like the kiwifruit, A. deliciosa.
Indeed, until about 15 years ago, A. chinensis and A. deliciosa were classified together in the one species.
There are good botanical reasons for separating the two species, but more important for horticulturists, their fruit are distinctly different.
In wild plants of A. chinensis, the fruit are generally much smaller, more rounded, and less cylindrical than those of cultivated kiwifruit and initially it was feared that fruit size would be too small for commercial development.
However, there is considerable variation in fruit size and shape and the fruit of good selections of A. chinensis can approach or even exceed the average size of 'Hayward' fruit.
The fruit is almost hairless at maturity, and what hair remains is usually much shorter and finer than kiwifruit hair, more like the fuzz of a peach.
Flesh color can vary greatly from bright green, shading through lime green to a clear, intense yellow.
Possibly the most attractive fruit are those in which the inner pericarp flesh is red, the outer yellow.
More important, the flavor of good selections of A. chinensis is thought by many to be much better than that of 'Hayward'.
The fruit are sweeter, more aromatic with a flavor reminiscent of some subtropical fruit.

A. chinensis has already proved itself in China.
The Chinese collect large quantities of Actinidia fruit from the wild, and they generally consider the fruit of A. chinensis to be superior to those of A. deliciosa.
Most of their Actinidia selections from the wild are of A. chinensis and some of the better selections are now being planted extensively.
The fruit produced is so far purely for local consumption.

Seed of A. chinensis was first introduced to New Zealand in 1977, and research workers there were soon convinced that this species had the greatest commercial potential of any of the Actinidia species other than the kiwifruit itself.
The first New Zealand bred cultivar of A. chinensis has been formally released and full-scale marketing will commence in the 1999 harvest season.
In 1987 a cross was made between plants from two accessions of A. chinensis with the aim of combining fruit size, good flavor, and yellow flesh.
One seedling was identified in 1991 as having particularly good fruit which have a very characteristic, pointed shape, quite different in appearance to 'Hayward' fruit.
The skin is covered with very soft downy hair, which is easily rubbed off.
The flesh is a bright yellow when fruit are harvested at the right maturity and the flavor is much preferred by most consumers to that of 'Hayward' fruit.
This selection has been registered under the PVR name of 'Hort16A' and will be marketed under the commercial name ZESPRITM GOLD Kiwifruit.

Although the fruit of 'Hort16A' are recognizably kiwifruits (i.e., are considered by most consumers to be related to 'Hayward' kiwifruit) they will need to be handled differently, especially as the fruit skin is more tender and more easily damaged than that of 'Hayward' kiwifruit.
The ancestors of the plant come from different parts of China and 'Hort16A' will probably differ from 'Hayward' in its climatic requirements and in its response to management practices. Futhermore, the kiwifruit is hexaploid whereas 'Hort16A' is diploid and flowers almost a month earlier: diploid males of A. chinensis have therefore had to be selected as pollenizers.
Two such plants, 'Meteor' and 'Sparkler', have so far been registered.

The kiwifruit is the edible fruit of a cultivar group of the woody vine Actinidia deliciosa and hybrids between this and other species in the genus Actinidia.
The most common cultivars of kiwifruit are oval, and about the size of a large hen's egg (5-8cm long and 4.5-5.5cm diameter).
Actinidia chinensis has a hairy, dull green-brown skin that most people peel off before consumption.
The flesh is bright green or golden with rows of small, black, edible seeds.
The texture of the fruit is soft and the flavour is sometimes described as a mix of strawberry, banana, and pineapple.
The fruit gets its name from a marketing strategy, naming it after the kiwi, the national bird of New Zealand, where the fruit was first commercially popularised in 1959 by the New Zealand fruit-and-vegetable export company Turners and Growers ; previously it was known as the Chinese gooseberry, but due to the Cold War, the Chinese label seemed unfit for popularization of the fruit in Western countries.

The Kiwi fruit (or Kiwi) is the edible berry of a cultivar group of the woody vine A. deliciosa and hybrids between this and other species in the genus Actinidia.

There are 2 common species of Kiwi commercially available: A. chinensis - Gold kiwi and A. deliciosa - Green kiwi.

SYNONYMS:

chinese-gooseberry

kiwi

kiwi vine

actinidia-deliciosa