Conservation and utilization of germplasm resources of the genus Actinidia

This paper briefly summarizes the progress on the conservation of the Actinidia germplasm resources at the Wuhan Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. A total of 56 taxa have been collected, of which 47 have set fruit. Sixty-three cultivars (selections) and approximately ten thousand F-1 or F-2 offspring from intra- or interspecific crosses have been planted in our repository. In recent years, recurrent selection and interspecific hybridization techniques have been used for new cultivar development. Much information has been obtained from fruit evaluation, providing a scientific basis for the conservation, exploitation and sustainable utilization of the resources in the development of the kiwifruit industry in China.