Both can be enjoyed picked straight from the vine or ripened postharvest. We have conducted postharvest storage studies, and the cold-storage life of these cultivars is comparable to the current industry standard Hort 16A (Zespri速 Gold). An important thing to note is that kiwifruit are dioecious, meaning they have separate female and male plants. Hence, a male pollinizer is necessary for fruit development. Based on corresponding bloom periods with female cultivars, Hortkiwi Meteor is suggested as the pollinizer for AU Golden Dragon, and AU Tiger is used as the pollinizer for AU Golden Sunshine. AU Fitzgerald is a green-fleshed female cultivar that has performed well in central and south Alabama. Hayward kiwifruit is the major kiwifruit
cultivar produced worldwide, and if you have eaten kiwifruit, this is most likely what you consumed. Hayward is a prolific fruiting cultivar and performs exceptionally in adapted environments, but the chilling requirement is too high for areas along the Gulf Coast and most likely central Alabama. AU Fitzgerald was released from Auburn University because it has a lower chilling-hour requirement that allows for production in warmer environments. Interestingly, Mrs. A. A. (Gracie) Fitzgerald of Summerdale in Baldwin County, Alabama, purchased kiwifruit from a local chain store in the mid 1970s and planted some seed from the fruit. After several years, she ended up with one female plant and one male plant that bloomed together, were very productive, and matured a crop of quality fruit
each season. Mrs. Fitzgerald collaborated with Auburn University faculty, particularly Dr. Dozier, to develop and eventually patent these cultivars. Thus, the name AU Fitzgerald was given to the female plant, and the male plant is named AU Arthur for her husband. The main goal of our kiwifruit research program is to optimize production of these cultivars. Successful pollination is crucial for fruit set and fruit size, and many commercial growers (in New Zealand, Italy, Chile, and California) apply supplemental pollen to improve pollination. Kiwifruit pollen is quite expensive, so we are determining the effective pollination period for these kiwifruit cultivars so that efforts to enhance pollination can 75 be targeted. Also, AU Golden Dragon and particularly AU Golden Sunshine are prolific fruiting cultivars, often producing an excess of fruit that results in too many small, unmarketable fruit. Golden Sunshine will produce more marketable fruit when fruit are thinned at an early stage of fruit development. Thus far, Golden Dragon has not benefited from fruit-thinning practices. We are now evaluating the effectiveness of flower bud removal as a cultural practice to increase marketable yields. Since we have primarily evaluated the kiwifruit cultivars only in central Alabama at the Chilton