The Zhengzhou Fruit Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (ZFRI of CAAS) was established in 1960 and is located in Zhengzhou City, Henan Province. It is a national research institute focused on applied and fundamental research of deciduous fruit, watermelon and melon, ranging from germplasm resources, genetic breeding, physiology and cultivation, plant protection, postharvest research to fruit quality and safety inspection, risk assessment.
ZFRI has a total of 190 staff members. It has a high profile of employees. 9 people are granted with the State Council Special Allowance. 2 are selected into the national level talents. 1 is entitled as the Zhongyuan Scholar. It also has 11 CARS certificated experts, 9 chief experts leading the innovation teams of CAAS-ASTIP, and 2 Chief of the Henan Province Industry Technology System. Doctoral and master’s degree of Pomology and Vegetable Science could be obtained at ZFRI. ZFRI jointly establishes the National Key Laboratory for Germplasm Innovation & Utilization of Horticultural Crop with Huazhong Agricultural University, and hosts the National Horticulture Germplasm Resources Center, National Repository for Grapevine and Peachin Zhengzhou, National Watermelon and Melon Gene Bank, National Fruit and Cucurbits Improvement Center and the Key Laboratory of Fruit Breeding Technology of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. In addition, ZFRI has built joint international labs with New Zealand, Spain, Bulgaria and Pakistan. ZFRI owns three scientific journals, namely JOURNAL OF FRUIT SCIENCE, CHINA CUCURBITS AND VEGETABLES, FRUIT GROWER’S FRIEND.
Over the past 6 decades, ZFRI achieved unprecedented development.313 scientific research awards have been granted, including 11 national prizes and130provincial and ministerial prizes. More than 10,000 accessions of fruit, watermelon, and melon germplasmshave been preserved in ZFRIs Germplasm Repository. A standardized, high-precision and high-efficiency genetic breeding system has been established, and so far hashatched 354 fruit and cucurbit cultivars, representing by early-ripingapples, red-peel pears, nectarines, flat peach, ornamental peach, all red Actinidia arguta, and disease-resistant watermelon. Among these,our peach cultivars own over 40% of the country's cultivation area., while our pear and apple cultivars account for over 20% and 15% of theplanting area fordomestic breeding cultivars, respectively. In this way, our ZFRI has successfully accomplished our research and scientific achievementstransformation, and created great economic and social benefits.
