A new variety of gold kiwifruit is set to be unveiled in Italy on 10 September.
The early-ripening cultivar has been developed over the part decade by scientists at the universities of Bologna and Udine, which recently began a process of identifying potential partners interested in growing and marketing the kiwifruit 'on a global scale'.
The variety, which remains unnamed, can be harvested in Italy as early as the beginning of September and is understood to produce a higher proportion of larger fruit – more suited to southern European markets.
According to Professor Guglielmo Costa, who worked on the project, the kiwifruit has bright yellow flesh and, unlike the category's most prevalent yellow-fleshed cultivar Hort16A – marketed out of New Zealand, Italy and France as Zespri Gold – it has no beak.
Crucially, tests so far reportedly indicate that the new variety has a good resistance to Psa, the disease which has blighted production in both Italy and New Zealand.
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