Abstract:

Kiwifruit is one of the most well-known and classical examples of successful domestication and commercial cultivation from the wild in the twentieth cen-tury. This review provides a brief introduction of the 100-year history of the domestication of China’s native Actinidia species in other countries and com-mercial development of kiwifruit industry. It also outlines the phylogeographic distribution of the natural resources of Actinidia in China and addresses the significant contribution and effect of exploitation and sustainable use of Chin-ese Actinidia wild resources on the world kiwifruit industry in view of recent progress of kiwifruit breeding for cultivar improvement and research and de-velopment for kiwifruit industry in China. To further exploit and sustainably use wild germplasm resources, we suggest a new concept of hybrid zone-based discovery of germplasm and genes that underlie important traits of horti-cultural value by selection and characterization of introgressed genotypes from a natural hybrid zone of Actinidia.

Key words: domestication, geographical distribution, introgression breeding, kiwifruit, natural hybrid zone