Kiwifruit - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 461

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Kiwifruit

Alaa El-Din Bekhit and Indrawati Oey

INTRODUCTION
Kiwifruit, often shortened as “kiwi,” belongs to the genus
Actinidia , which is grown in woody vines like berries with
oval-shaped fruit. Originally, kiwifruits come from China;
therefore they are also known as Chinese gooseberries.
The name of “kiwi” comes from the New Zealand native
kiwi bird due to their similarity in having greenish brown
skin with dense brown hairs. Among fruit crops, kiwifruits
( Actinidia spp.) are listed in the top ten most valuable
fruit crops after citrus, apples, table grapes, peaches, and
pears.

CONSUMPTION TRENDS AND SIGNIFICANCE
Consumers have different preferences and perceptions on
green-, yellow-, and red-fleshed kiwifruits due to their
differences in flavor and taste. Yellow- and red-fleshed
kiwifruits are relatively more expensive compared to green-
fleshed ones due to their shorter shelf life and limited plan-
tation. A market study carried out by Harker et al. (2007)
showed that consumers were willing to pay more to buy
red-fleshed fruit due to their preference.
People consume kiwifruits mostly as fresh-cut products
and a very small proportion as processed products such as
jam, juice, cider, wine, and so on. Owing to their unique
and appealing flavor and aromatic compounds, kiwifruits
are commonly used in beverages. Furthermore, Actinidia
species are a good source of cysteine protease enzymes
(actinidin) and have been explored to tenderize meat
either as purified or crude enzymes (Bekhit et al., 2007;
Christensen et al., 2009).

WORLD PRODUCTION AND TRADE
The annual world kiwifruit production for 2010 was
1.35 million metric tons (Fig. 25.1), which represented an
increase of about 61% since 1990. Table 25.1 shows leading
kiwifruit-producing, -exporting, and -importing countries.
Italy was the leading producer with 415,877 metric tons,
followed by New Zealand, Chile, Greece, and France. New
Zealand kiwifruit production was 91% of that of Italy's, but
nearly all kiwifruits from New Zealand are exported, with
a very limited amount marketed locally; combined, these
two countries accounted for 59% of the total world kiwifruit
production in 2010. New Zealand and Italy are currently the
world's two biggest kiwifruit exporters and the most im-
portant players in international kiwifruit trade (Testolin and
Ferguson, 2009). The top five kiwifruit-importing countries
were Spain, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, and the
Russian Federation (Table 25.1).

PRODUCTION, VARIETIES, AND HARVESTING
Based on the morphological characteristics (the presence or
absence and the type of hair on the stems, leaves, and fruit
and the presence or absence of spots on the fruit surface)
the genus Actinidia is divided into four main sections,
which encompass about 65 species of kiwifruits (Ferguson,
1990). For commercial purposes and breeding programs,
kiwifruit cultivars, Actinidia deliciosa and Actinidia

chinensis (generally have green- and yellow-fleshed

kiwifruit when ripe, respectively), have been mostly