Botrytis gray mold of kiwifruit caused by Botrytis cinerea in the United States and New Zealand

The kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa (A. Chev.) C.S. Liang et A.R. Ferguson) (syn. Actinidia chinensis Planch) is a member of the Actinidiaceae family and indigenous to Southeast Asia. It was relatively unknown several decades ago, but it has now become an important fruit crop in several countries worldwide. Kiwifruit was first grown in New Zealand at the turn of the century from seed from China, but the first commercial planting did not occur until 1930 at Te Puke in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island. Large-scale planting of the Hayward cultivar did not occur until the 1970s, but New Zealand's success at marketing this cultivar worldwide encouraged other temperate-zone countries such as Australia, Chile, France, Greece, Italy, Japan, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, and the United States to develop commercial plantings (Table 1; ). Robert Smith, based at the USDA's Plant Introduction Station in Chico, California, was the first to demonstrate that kiwifruit could be grown and produced successfully in California. He provided seeds and cuttings for the establishment of the first commercial vineyards in the San Joaquin Valley in 1966 and Gridley in 1968. The main production areas in California are now concentrated in the northern Sacramento Valley.