China is a big country producing kiwifruit, with orchard area and output ranking first in the world, but at the same time, the import volume also ranks first in the world. Kiwi originated in China. As early as 2000 years ago, in the Book of Songs · Juniper Wind, there was a saying: "There is Chang Chu on the mountain, and the branches of it can be exorcised." Among them, Chang Chu is today's kiwi. After being introduced from Yichang, Hubei Province in 1904, New Zealand continued to expand its planting scale and gradually became a powerful country in kiwi production and trade.

Although China has rich genetic germplasm resources, there are relatively few genes isolated from genetic resources and varieties cultivated, which are not protected by international patents for a long time, and the quality of fruits is also poor. Huang Renhuang, the 89 year old founder of the National Kiwifruit Germplasm Resources Nursery, is a scientist who has studied kiwifruit for more than 40 years.

In 1978, Huang Renhuang joined the national survey of kiwifruit germplasm resources as a researcher in Wuhan Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and established a kiwifruit germplasm resource garden with an area of 2 hectares in 1979. Kiwi fruit is distributed in remote mountains in the wild. In order to collect valuable germplasm resources, Huang Renhuang and his team members climbed mountains and waded across rivers. Wherever there are kiwi fruit, there will be their presence, whether it is on cliffs or in ravines. Hungry baked sweet potatoes, baked potatoes to eat, thirsty to drink mountain water; Attacks by poisonous snakes, wasps and leeches are common; In case of heavy rain, the river rises suddenly, so you should risk crossing the river in the waist deep torrent.

Although they often encountered difficulties and dangers, Huang Renhuang and his companions never flinched. Finally, a series of excellent kiwifruit varieties, such as "Wuzhi No. 3", "Jintao", "Jinyan", have been bred and popularized in a large area. Among them, "Golden Peach" is the first crop with independent intellectual property rights in China to achieve the record of global patent transfer and use, and kiwi has achieved "going global" in science and technology.

Let kiwi fruit scientific research achievements be popularized and applied

Whether before or after retirement, Huang Renhuang is concentrating on the work of "popularizing and applying the scientific research achievements of kiwifruit". We have cultivated excellent kiwi planting experts and soil experts for poor mountain areas and poor farmers in Jianshi County, deep in the mountains of Hubei Province, Xinglong Village, Mudao Town, Lichuan, Xixia County, Henan Province, Kiwi planting bases in Shaanxi Province and other places to help alleviate poverty.

In order to solve the problem of planting kiwifruit in the plain, Huang Renhuang selected the site of Wuhan Caidian Base in Jianghan Plain in 2015, launched an 8-year planting test, and developed a planting method resistant to water logging; Through cross breeding among varieties, the problem of canker disease, which makes many fruit growers turn pale, has been solved.

"This is Donghong, a red heart of golden fruit, with unique fruit fragrance and good taste, rich in anthocyanins. It is a patented variety of our Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and won the gold medal of the 2019 Berlin International Fruit and Vegetable Exhibition." Huang Renhuang pointed to the kiwi fruit and said. He believes that New Zealand implements unified management, so standardization is very good. However, the kiwi market in the domestic market is still more competitive at low prices. In order to transform China from a big kiwi country to a strong kiwi country, we should start from ourselves and continue to study and experiment with better planting standards with Chinese characteristics.

"Only good land can produce good fruit." Huang Renhuang said that the whole process of ecological planting was based on scientific research standards. In the first three years, only soybeans were planted, but not harvested. It was also green into the soil and nourished the farmland. In 2018, the most suitable varieties for plain growth will be selected from 51 varieties for industrial planting. A high-quality kiwi fruit should have strict planting standards. The base adopts "three-stage" grafting and high resistance seedlings; Standardize the planting and maintenance of the foundation, use organic ecological fertilizer, and ensure that the land is "cultivated"; Clean water source irrigation, eliminate pollution sources, and detect the environment, soil, and tree body sensors in real time to ensure that kiwifruit is always in the best growth state. After the seedlings are planted, the tree body undergoes four years of vegetative growth, and preliminary fruit bearing occurs in the fifth year.

The original intention and persistence of scientific researchers

Good kiwifruit needs high cost for planting and picking. The cost of planting lies in adopting ecological organic planting and standardized maintenance, while the cost of picking comes from the human cost, management cost and fruit loss brought by high maturity picking.

"It can't be picked early. It will take more than 167 days for the red heart of Chinese gooseberry and 200 days for the yellow heart of Chinese gooseberry to be picked naturally on the tree, so that the gooseberry can absorb enough nutrients on the tree." Huang Renhuang said that the maturity reached on the tree determines the upper limit of the flavor of the gooseberry. The higher the maturity of the fruit, the more nutrients it absorbs, the higher the pulp density, and the better the flavor.

"In order to meet the standard of Huanglao, the kiwi fruit in the base came into the market one month late and missed the first sales period." The staff of the base said that natural ripening means that chemical agents cannot be used to control the growth of the fruit in its infancy, growth and maturity. Although there are economic losses, everyone respects the old man's adherence and principles.

"I am a scientific and technological worker. As long as scientific knowledge and technology can serve the society, I can keep these kiwifruit!" said the old man, who had won many honors such as the second prize of the National Award for Progress in Science and Technology, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Chinese Botanical Garden. (Hubei reporter station of China Daily: Zhou Lihua, Liu Kun/Wen Xin)