Agency overview | |
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Formed | 1 April 1992 |
Preceding | |
Dissolved | 1 December 2008 |
Superseding agency | |
Website | www |
HortResearch (Horticulture and Food Research Institute of New Zealand Limited; Māori: Rangahau Ahumāra) was a Crown Research Institute of New Zealand. The focus of research in this company was mainly in the development of new fruit varieties and other food products. It was probably most recognised for its plant breeding of various kiwifruit varieties, including new cultivars of Actinidia (genus) chinensis [1] and arguta [2] (species).
HortResearch was originally part of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), but was established as an independent organisation when the Crown Research Institutes were created on 1 April 1992. As part of that process, it was semi-commercialised, and operated as a government-owned company rather than as a government department.
On 1 December 2008, HortResearch was merged with Crop and Food Research to form a new Crown Research Institute, the New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research trading as Plant & Food Research. [3]
Kiwifruit or Chinese gooseberry is the edible berry of several species of woody vines in the genus Actinidia. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit is oval, about the size of a large hen's egg: 5–8 centimetres in length and 4.5–5.5 cm in diameter. It has a thin, fuzzy, fibrous, tart but edible light brown skin and light green or golden flesh with rows of tiny, black, edible seeds. The fruit has a soft texture with a sweet and unique flavour.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The NCBI is located in Bethesda, Maryland, and was founded in 1988 through legislation sponsored by US Congressman Claude Pepper.
Jojoba – also commonly called goat nut, deer nut, pignut, wild hazel, quinine nut, coffeeberry, and gray box bush – is a shrub native to the Southwestern United States. Simmondsia chinensis is the sole species of the family Simmondsiaceae, placed in the order Caryophyllales.
Parthenium argentatum, commonly known as the guayule, is a perennial woody shrub in the family Asteraceae that is native to the rangeland area of the Chihuahuan Desert; including the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It was first documented by J.M. Bigelow in 1852 through the Mexican Boundary Survey and was first described by Asa Gray. Natural rubber, ethanol, non-toxic adhesives, and other specialty chemicals can be extracted from guayule. An alternative source of latex that is hypoallergenic, unlike the normal Hevea rubber, can also be extracted. While Castilla elastica was the most widely used rubber source of Mesoamericans in pre-Columbian times, guayule was also used, though less frequently. The name "guayule" derives from the Nahuatl word ulli/olli, "rubber".
In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes (CRIs) are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research.
Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute whose focus of research is the environment, biodiversity, and sustainability.
Vaccinium corymbosum, the northern highbush blueberry, is a North American species of blueberry which has become a food crop of significant economic importance. It is native to eastern Canada and the eastern and southern United States, from Ontario east to Nova Scotia and south as far as Florida and eastern Texas. It is also naturalized in other places: Europe, Japan, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest of North America, etc. Other common names include blue huckleberry, tall huckleberry, swamp huckleberry, high blueberry, and swamp blueberry.
Actinidia arguta, the hardy kiwi, is a perennial vine native to Japan, Korea, Northern China, and the Russian Far East. It produces a small kiwifruit without the hair-like fiber covering the outside, unlike most other species of the genus.
Jules Émile Planchon was a French botanist born in Ganges, Hérault.
Actinidia deliciosa, the fuzzy kiwifruit, is a fruiting vine native to Southern China. Other species of Actinidia are also found in China and range east to Japan and north into southern areas of Russian Far East. This species grows naturally at altitudes between 600 and 2,000 m.
Actinidain is a type of cysteine protease enzyme found in fruits including kiwifruit, pineapple, mango, banana, figs, and papaya. This enzyme is part of the peptidase C1 family of papain-like proteases.
The Institute for Crop and Food Research was formed in 1992 as a New Zealand-based biological science Crown Research Institute researching new knowledge in five main areas:
Actinidia chinensis(Planch.), known commercially as the golden kiwifruit, is a fruiting vine, native to China. It is one of some 40 related species of the genus Actinidia, and closely related to Actinidia deliciosa, which is the source of the most common commercial kiwifruit. Fruit colour may vary from green to lime green or gold, depending on breeding.
Nepeta cataria, commonly known as catnip, catswort, catwort, and catmint, is a species of the genus Nepeta in the family Lamiaceae, native to southern and eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, and parts of China. It is widely naturalized in northern Europe, New Zealand, and North America. The common name catmint can also refer to the genus as a whole.
Plant & Food Research is a New Zealand Crown Research Institute (CRI). Its purpose is to enhance the value and productivity of New Zealand's horticultural, arable, seafood and food & beverage industries. The interests of the institute are based in horticulture, arable and seafood research, specifically in the areas of sustainable production, bioprotection, elite genetics & intelligent breeding, food and health science and biomaterials.
Kiwifruit or kiwi is a major horticultural export earner for New Zealand. New Zealand developed the first commercially viable kiwifruit and developed export markets, creating the demand for the fruit that exists today. Today New Zealand is the third largest kiwifruit producing country, next to China and Italy, and holds approximately 30% of the market share. In the 2008–2009 season the value of New Zealand kiwifruit exports was NZ$1.45 billion.
The Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante (IPP), or 'Institute of Plant Protection', is part of the Food Department of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, an Italian government organization with the aim of supporting scientific and technological research. IPP has four bases in Italy: Turin, Florence, Portici, and Bari.
Dilbagh Singh Athwal was an Indian-American geneticist, plant breeder and agriculturist, known to have conducted pioneering research in plant breeding. He was a professor and the Head of the Department of Plant Breeding at Punjab Agricultural University and an associate of Norman Borlaug, a renowned biologist and Nobel Laureate, with whom he has collaborated for the introduction of high-yielding dwarf varieties of wheat.
The gold kiwifruit or yellow kiwi is a variety of kiwifruit developed by the company Zespri International Ltd. The yellow kiwi is a different species but of the same genus as the green one.