The Effect of Xenia on Fruit Quality and Anthocyanidin Composition in Fruit of‘Donghong’Kiwifruit

doi:10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2025-0396

Acta Horticulturae Sinica ›› 2026, Vol. 53 ›› Issue (6): 1684-1694.doi: 10.16420/j.issn.0513-353x.2025-0396

• Cultivation · Physiology & Biochemistry • Previous Articles Next Articles

The Effect of Xenia on Fruit Quality and Anthocyanidin Composition in Fruit of‘Donghong’Kiwifruit

JIA Dongfeng, LIN Liting, YE Bin, HUANG Chunhui, LIAO Guanglian, XU Xiaobiao^*()

College of Agronomy/Institute of Kiwifruit， Jiangxi Agricultural University， Nanchang 330045， China

Received:2025-12-11 Revised:2026-05-08 Online:2026-06-24 Published:2026-06-24
Contact: XU Xiaobiao

Abstract

Abstract:

Three male Actinidia chinensis cultivars（‘M11’‘M26’‘MS3’）and one male A. eriantha cultivar（‘MG15’）were used to pollinate the red-fleshed A. chinensis‘Donghong’. The appearance quality，internal quality，soluble sugar composition，organic acid composition，and color difference indexes were evaluated respectively. Composition and contents of anthocyanins were analyzed using targeted metabolome method，and the differentially accumulated metabolites（DAMs）in inner pericarp were identified. Correlation analysis between color difference indexes and the total content of individual anthocyanins or the content of each DAM was conducted. The results indicated that some of the fruit traits were significantly affected by xenia，including fruit weight，soluble sugar content，titratable acidity，sugar-acid ratio，glucose content，sucrose content，and malic acid content. The color quality in the inner pericarp of‘Donghong’was significantly improved by pollination with the pollen of the male‘MG15’kiwifruit as it facilitated the red coloring. In the inner pericarp of‘Donghong’fruits pollinated with pollen from‘M11’or‘MG15’，whose fruit color indicators were significantly different，20 and 23 anthocyanins were respectively detected，and 8 of them were identified to be up-regulated DAMs in inner pericarp pollinated by‘MG15’. The a^* value（reflecting depth of red color when positive）was significantly positively correlated to the content of 6 DAMs of those anthocyanins，especially，cyanidin-3-O-galactoside was the highest in the inner pericarp of fruits pollinated with‘MG15’，implying that its increased accumulation may account for the enhanced red color of the inner pericarp. For the first time，this study revealed that the red coloration in red-fleshed kiwifruit exhibits a clear xenia effect. These findings offer a theoretical basis for elucidating the anthocyanin-mediated mechanism underlying flesh coloration in kiwifruit.

Key words: kiwifruit, xenia, anthocyanidin, fruit quality, flesh color, metabolome analysis

JIA Dongfeng, LIN Liting, YE Bin, HUANG Chunhui, LIAO Guanglian, XU Xiaobiao. The Effect of Xenia on Fruit Quality and Anthocyanidin Composition in Fruit of‘Donghong’Kiwifruit[J]. Acta Horticulturae Sinica, 2026, 53(6): 1684-1694.

Figures/Tables 7

Fig. 1 Indicators of appearance and texture quality at physiological maturity stage in‘Donghong’kiwifruit fruit pollinated with four male pollens The different lowercase letters represent significant differences among the different treatments（P < 0.05）. The same below

Fig. 2 Indicators of internal quality at soft maturity in‘Donghong’kiwifruit fruit pollinated with four male pollens

Fig. 3 Contents of soluble sugars and organic acids at soft maturity in‘Donghong’kiwifruit fruit pollinated with four male pollens

Table 1 Color difference indexes of outer pericarp and inner pericarp in‘Donghong’kiwifruit fruit pollinated with four male pollens

授粉品种 Pollen source	中果皮Outer pericarp			内果皮Inner pericarp
授粉品种 Pollen source	L^*	a^*	b^*	L^*	a^*	b^*
M11	44.45 ± 5.65 c	-3.01 ± 0.66 a	25.51 ± 3.97 b	38.92 ± 2.69 a	2.18 ± 1.47 c	15.37 ± 3.07 a
M26	47.87 ± 1.22 bc	-2.93 ± 0.15 a	24.96 ± 1.95 b	35.81 ± 2.02 a	2.86 ± 0.79 c	12.46 ± 2.23 bc
MS3	52.81 ± 2.52 a	-3.20 ± 0.65 a	29.31 ± 1.57 a	37.51 ± 2.00 a	4.94 ± 1.16 b	14.87 ± 1.69 ab
MG15	50.13 ± 2.41 ab	-3.13 ± 0.41 a	27.45 ± 1.80 ab	37.67 ± 4.71 a	7.50 ± 2.22 a	10.40 ± 2.10 c

Fig. 4 The flesh phenotypes of‘Donghong’kiwifruit fruits pollinated with‘M11’and‘MG15’at soft maturity stage

Fig. 5 The heat map of contents of individual anthocyanin compounds in inner pericarp of‘Donghong’kiwifruit fruit pollinated with‘M11’and‘MG15’at soft maturity stage Values in blocks represent the average content（mg · g-1）of anthocyanins. The upward white arrows indicate the differentially accumulated metabolites upregulated in the inner pericarp of‘Donghong’fruit pollinated by‘MG15’. “—”indicates the related anthocyanin was not detected

Table 2 Correlations between color difference indexes and the total content of anthocyanins or the contents of the differentially accumulated metabolites in inner pericarp of‘Donghong’kiwifruit fruit pollinated with pollens from‘M11’and‘MG15’

色差指标 Color difference	总含量 Total content		矢车菊素-3-O- 葡萄糖苷 Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside		矢车菊素-3,5-O- 二葡萄糖苷 Cyanidin- 3,5-O-diglucoside		矢车菊素-3-O-阿拉伯糖苷 Cyanidin-3-O- arabinoside	矢车菊素-3-O-半乳糖苷 Cyanidin-3-O- galactoside
L^*	0.396		-0.506		-0.121		-0.327	-0.354
a^*	-0.169		0.954^**		0.813^*		0.927^**	0.943^**
b^*	0.251		-0.740		-0.914^*		-0.847^*	-0.848^*
色差指标 Color difference		锦葵色素-3,5-O- 二葡萄糖苷 Malvidin-3,5-O-diglucoside		天竺葵素-3-O-半乳糖苷 Pelargonidin-3-O- galactoside		芍药花素-3-（6-O-p-对香豆酰）- 葡萄糖苷Peonidin-3-O-(6-O-p- coumaroyl)-glucoside			原花青素A2 Procyanidin A2
L^*		0.253		-0.376		-0.355			-0.076
a^*		0.313		0.738		0.940^**			0.838^*
b^*		-0.493		-0.771		-0.951^**			-0.807

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The Effect of Xenia on Fruit Quality and Anthocyanidin Composition in Fruit of‘Donghong’Kiwifruit

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