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Some New Zealand kiwifruit growers affected by the Psa-V vine disease have ‘illegally’ planted a new gold variety still in a trial phase.

According to a report by Fairfax, kiwifruit marketer Zespri has said around 13ha of its new G3 gold variety had been grafted by unlicensed growers.

The company said it would vigorously defend its intellectual property.

The G3 variety is being trialled as a replacement for the previously lucrative Hort 16A gold variety that has proven highly susceptible to Psa-V and is thought to have no future in the New Zealand industry.

Zespri is trialling two gold varieties, G3 and G9, to study their resistance to the disease.

Zespri spokesperson David Courtney told the news source it was not known where the illegal budwood had come from.

He added that no decisions had yet been made as to when or how G3 might be released.

'Provided G3 is still looking good in early February, the Zespri executive will develop a paper on G3 demand volumes and proposed licensing arrangements to go to the Zespri board at its February meeting,” Courtney said.

'Following that there will then be an industry-wide discussion on how any release of G3 is done.'