Abstract: Kiwifruit of three different cultivars（early-ripening red pulp type‘Hongyang’，
mid-ripening yellow pulp type‘Huayou’and late-ripening green pulp type‘Xuxiang’）were stored at 0 ℃
（90%–95% RH）to study the differences of chilling injury（CI）development，relative physiological and
biochemical indexes among three cultivars. The results indicated that chilling tolerance of the kiwifruits
showed differences among three cultivars.‘Hongyang’and‘Huayou’（Actinidia chinensis）exhibited more
chilling-sensitive and occurred chilling injury earlier than‘Xuxiang’（Actinidia deliciosa）. The chilling
injury index，chilling injury incidence，malonaldehyde（MDA）content and lipoxygenase（LOX）activity
of‘Hongyang’and‘Huayou’were significantly higher than that of‘Xuxiang’at later storage，while
ethylene production and respiratory rate maintained in high levels at earlier stage.‘Xuxiang’exhibited
lighter chilling injury，maintained higher peroxidase（POD）activity and lower polyphenol oxidase（PPO）
activity than that of‘Hongyang’and‘Huayou’during storage. It also had higher accepted fruit percentage
and lower weight loss than that of‘Hongyang’and‘Huayou’，and the firmness of‘Huayou’decreased
quickly. Results suggested that‘Hongyang’and‘Huayou’were more sensitive to CI than‘Xuxiang’，
which may be useful in breeding cultivars with improved storage life at low temperatures.

Key words: kiwifruit, cultivar, low temperature storage, chilling injury, chilling