Black Currant Production, Breeding and Processing in China

The history of black currant cultivation extends back to 1917 in China, but the industrial production of berry fruit started in 1980s. First the production was only developed in Heilongjiang province, in the northeast of China. The cultivation areas amounted to 400 ha. in 1980, 8500 ha in 1985 and 20,000 ha in 1987 with a yield of over 10,000 tons. Due to a lack of processing capability and a decrease in exports, most plantations were destroyed, reducing annual yields to less than 1000 t. Today there are 1,110 ha in Heilongjiang and the production was about 12, 000 t in 2009. Xinjiang is another production region in China, where about 400 ha was developed. Most of the cultivars in china were introduced from Poland and Russia. 'Brodtorp', 'Heifeng' and 'Hanfeng' are the common black currant cultivars in production. Breeding of black currant was started in 1980s, a new and extended breeding program has been carried out at the college of Horticulture, Northeast Agricultural University since 1986. The breeding program is aimed at developing mildew resistant, erect growing cultivars which are winter hardy and high yielding. Most black currants were processed to fruit juice and frozen exported to Japan and Europe. The rest was processed to drinks and wine sold on the internal market. Seed oil was also extracted for medicinal purpose. Black currant has great nutritive value. Furthermore, China has abundant manpower and suitable natural conditions for its cultivation. Today many businesses are engaged in processing black currant, giving a highly positive future outlook for the crop in China.