SORELI. A yellow-fleshed kiwifruit. New variety bred by the scientists of the University of Udine, Raffaele Testolin and Guido Cipriani

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1 SORELI A yellow-fleshed kiwifruit New variety bred by the scientists of the University of Udine, Raffaele Testolin and Guido Cipriani

2 SORELI A yellow-fleshed kiwifruit New variety bred by the scientists of the University of Udine, Raffaele Testolin and Guido Cipriani Origin Controlled cross A137 x A done in A137 is a female selection of unknown origin introduced in Italy from China; A is a male breeding line obtained from the open pollinated Chinese selection (syn. Zao Xian), a female selection spread in the Guangdong province. Breeders are Raffaele Testolin and Guido Cipriani, scientists of the University of Udine. The variety has been released in 2008 with the name Soreli, that in the language of Friuli means sun. The University of Udine is solely and exclusively entitled of the rights of exploitation (UPOV Convention). Figure 1 Fruit of the cultivar Soreli on the vine 2

3 Botanical and genetic traits The variety belongs to the species Actinidia chinensis var chinensis and it is tetraploide (2n = 4x = 116). General characteristics of the variety Time of budburst Soreli budburst anticipates a few days or is contemporary to Hayward, depending on the location and the season. Bud burst occurs in Udine (46 06 lat N, 113 m asl) around March 30th. Figure 2 A young shoot of Soreli Bud fertility Bud fertility is high, like in most A. chinensis selections. The high bud fertility guarantees, under the same bud load per hectare, % more yield in comparison to the traditional green kiwifruit varieties. Flowers are single, at least for the limited period during which observations were carried out ( ). Flowering time Soreli flowers 9 days in advance in comparison to Hayward. Even in this case there is a great variability according to the year and the location. Flowering occurs in Udine around May 17th. 3

4 Suggested pollenizer: Belén. Other pollenizers are under scrutiny. It is possible to use pollen of Actinidia deliciosa as well. In such a case, the pollen must have to be stored the year before, provided that the A. deliciosa selections flowers when Soreli flowering is over. It is possible to import pollen from Countries of the Southern hemisphere, like New Zealand. This commercial pollen, that can be easily found in the European market, has been successfully used in the pollination of Soreli. Figure 3 Flowers of the cultivar Soreli on the vine Figure 4 Flowers of the cultivar Soreli photographed at the table 4

5 Fruit characteristics The fruit of Soreli is ovoid-long and regular in shape, the skin colour is brilliant brown, flesh colour is intense yellow, mean fruit weight is approx. 100 g. Figure 5 Fruit of the cultivar Soreli on the vine Figure 6 Fruit of the cultivar Soreli photographed at the table 5

6 Harvesting and storage Fruit of Soreli are harvested with a soluble solid content above 7 Brix approx. 30 days before Hayward. Fruit can be harvested within a period of 20 days with a soluble solid content between 7 and 10 Brix. Fruit storage at normal atmosphere (NA) is limited to days. Controlled atmosphere (CA) with the ethylene removal can prolong the storage life up to 6 months. The consumer s evaluation is generally good. Acceptance scoring values are similar to Hayward and slightly lower than Jintao. Soreli has a good sweetness/acidity balance. Figure 7 Fruit of the cultivar Soreli in box Resistance to diseases At the time Soreli has been evaluated there was no concern about kiwifruit diseases, that were easily controlled by growers through the common good practices and the curing of fruit after the harvest. For this reason no test has been carried out on resistance/tolerance of Soreli to diseases recently reported as sustained by pathogens particularly aggressive towards the kiwifruit crop, such as the kiwifruit wilt caused by Verticillium alboatrum reported in 2008 in Chile on young Hort 16A kiwifruit plantations (Fullerton et al. New Zealand Plant Protection 61: 393 (2008), Auger e Perez. Plant disease 93 (5): 553 (2009)) and the bacterial canker caused by Pseudomonas syringae pv actinidiae recorded in Italy in 2009 (Balestra et al. Australasian Plant Disease Notes 4: (2009)), recorded to be present in China, Japan, South Korea and likely in California and Iran as well (Rees-George et al. Plant Pathology 59: (2010)). At the time this bulletin has been prepared there is no report of damages to Soreli orchards due to the pathogens described above, given also the limited diffusion of this cultivar. Reports from licensees and stakeholders are welcome. 6

7 Frost and cold resistance A frost occurred in Springtime 2003 during the Soreli selection (-1.9 C on April 7th and -3.3 C the day after) allowed to record a good resistance of Soreli to early frost in comparison with other selections of the same age and grown in the same block. The fact is partly due to the time of bud burst of Soreli which is delayed in comparison with other selections. As far as winter cold resistance, young plants of Soreli, 4 years old and overgrafted onto Hayward, were exposed on December 19-20, 2009 to temperatures at C. They did not show any apparent reduction on bud fertility diversely from hayward that showed a dramatic increase of the percentage of the buds that did not swell. Figure 8 Comparison side-by-side of Soreli (left) and Hayward after the severe cold winter of December 19-20, 2009 when the temperature dropped down to C for two consecutive days. Hayward plants clearly show a severely reduced bud burst, while Soreli apparently does not. Yet, we observed in several blocks were micropropagated plants of Soreli were compared with plants of the same cultivar grafted onto different rootstocks ( Hayward and D1 ) that temperatures below -14 C led to the almost complete lost of scions and the rootstocks had to be reworked. Micropropagated plants equally lost the stem, but they regrew promptly from the roots at Springtime. 7

8 Figure 9 Springtime regrowth of grafted (left) and micropropagated (right) Soreli plants, damaged by the winter cold in December 2009 (photo taken in Casarsa, UD in Springtime 2010) Intellectual Property Rights and propagation licence Soreli is protected for the IPR. Applications have been submitted to the CPVO Office (no of June 16, 2008), the US Patent Office (application Ser. No. 12/456,176 of June 12, 2009, docket 2503/001), and the Chile Patent Office (No. 2010/981). Application in other Countries is on the way. Propagation licence for the European Union Non-exclusive propagation rights within the European Union have been granted to 14 European licensees. The list is reported in the annexe. The propagation rights are granted on the base of a royalty per plant. Propagation licence extra-ue An exclusive propagation licence extra-eu has been granted in 2009 to the BIOGOLD International (Pty) Ltd of Matieland, Stellenbosch, South Africa. The propagation rights are granted on the base of royalties per planted hectare and per exported fruit. Diffusion plan The large scale in vitro propagation has started in Europe in 2008 starting from plant material pre-cultured in vitro in During the seasons 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 more than 100,000 plants have been sold in the market. After the first plantations in Italy, Soreli has been introduced in Greece, France, and Portugal as well. In 2009 Biogold International has introduced the cultivar Soreli together with the male Belén in Chile, where it started the pre-multiplication campaign. The business plan foresees in the next two years the introduction of Soreli in Argentina, USA, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, India and Iran. 8

9 Figure 10 Flowering plant of Soreli Pubblications Testolin R (2008) Soreli, la nuova varietà di kiwi a polpa gialla. Frutticoltura 7-8: Testolin R, Cipriani G, Comuzzo G, Frezza R, Macor D (2008) Soreli, una novità per il kiwi a polpa gialla. Terra e Vita 45: Testolin R, Cipriani G, Comuzzo G, Frezza R, Macor D (2008) Soreli, una novità per il kiwi a polpa gialla. Inf agrario 36: Testolin R, Cipriani G, Comuzzo G, Frezza R, Macor D (2008) Sbarca tra i produttori la nuova varietà di kiwi a polpa gialla Soreli. Kiwi informa 7-9: 4-13 Cipriani G, Comuzzo G, Frezza R, Macor D, Testolin R (2009) Soreli : nuovo kiwi friulano a polpa gialla. Not ERSA 4: Testolin R, Ferguson AR (2009) Kiwifruit (Actinidia spp.) production and marketing in Italy. New Zealand J Crop & Hort Sci 37: 1-32 Contact University of Udine Technology Transfer Office Vicolo Florio 4 I Udine Phone /84 Fax brevetti@uniud.it web: 9

10 Annexe: list of the European Soreli licensees 1. Azienda Agricola Fanna Gianpaolo Via Boiani Moimacco (UD) Tel , 2. Azienda Agricola Martino Vivai s.s. Via Germanasca Pinerolo (TO) Tel , Fax , 3. Azienda Agricola Venturi Via Tessello Cesena (FC) Tel , Fax , 4. Ceradini B. & C. società agricola Via Gardesana Verona (VR) Tel , Fax , 5. CO.N.VI. di Spada Renato e Sergio Via Siepi Brisighella (RA) Tel , Fax , info@vivaiconvi.eu 6. Exoticplant Vivaio di Francesco Maule Via Mediana per Cisterna Cisterna di Latina (LT) Tel , Fax , exoticplant.vivaio@tin.it 7. Fitotechniki - Xilogiannis Bros. N. Zerva Filothei - Arta - GRECIA Tel , Fax , xilogian@otenet.gr 8. Geoplant Vivai Via Chiavica Fenaria Savarna (RA) Tel , Fax , info@geoplantvivai.com 9. Simeoni Pericle Kiwiplants Via Camolli 9/A Sacile (PN) Tel , Fax , info@simeonitecnogreen.com 10. Taroni Vivai di Taroni Giampaolo Via Fabretti Barbiano Cotignola (RA) Tel , Fax , taroni.gpaolo@libero.it 11. Vitroplant Italia s.r.l. società agricola Via Loreto Cesena (FC) Tel , Fax , contact@vitroplant.it 12. Vivai Dalmonte Guido e Vittorio s.s. società agricola Via Casse Brisighella (RA) Tel , Fax , dalmonte@dalmontevivai.com 13. Vivai F.lli Zanzi di Carlo Zanzi & c. s.s. società agricola Via del Gorgo Loc. gorgo Fossanova S. Marco (FE) Tel , Fax , vivaizanzi@vivaizanzi.it 14. Vivai Piante Battistini s.s. società agricola Via Ravennate Martorano di cesena (FC) Tel , Fax , batvivai@battistinivivai.com 10