about litchi

1. PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY OF
LITCHI
submitted by
N.R.V.D.S.NARAYANA

2. LITCHI
 Botanical Name : Litchi chinensis
 Origin : South China
 Order : Sapindales
 Family : Sapindaceae
 Subfamily : Sapindoideae
 Inflorescence : Panicle
 Chromosome no. : 2n =30
 Edible part : Aril
 Type of pollination : cross pollination
 Mechanism of pollinate : Insect

3.  Plant production
 HEIGHT - less than 19 m (62 ft)
 The bark is grey-black, the branches a
 brownish-red
 ROOT- shallow rooted
Leaves-compound with leaflets in 2-4 pairs
Flowers -small, yellowish-white
Inflorescence- compound raceme
Fruit type- nut, contain:- aril- 70-86%
 peel-8-15%
 seed-4-18%
 Edible portion- fleshly aril
 Pollination system: cross pollinated crop

4. Nutritional value
Energy : 276 kJ (66 kcal)
Carbohydrates :16.5 g
Dietary fiber : 1.3 g
Vitamin C : 64 mg (87%)
Fat : 0.3 g
Protein : 0.7 g
Calcium : 10 mg (1%)
Magnesium : 10 mg (3%)
Phosphorus : 35 mg (4%)

5. AREA & PRODUCTION
1) `China` is the biggest producer of litchi in the world.
2) India rank second in the world(Area & Production).
3) In India litchi is grown on large scale in Bihar.
4) State rank – `Bihar`(area & production)
5) `West Bengal` (productivity)

7. State-wise Area, Production & Productivity of
Litchi
state Area
(Ha)
production
(MT)
Productivity
(MT/Ha.)
Bihar 27.7 221.7 8.0
West Bengal 5.9 61.4 10.5
Assam 4.1 18.7 4.6
Punjab 1.2 11.6 10.0
Orissa 3.5 10.2 2.9
Tripura 1.7 9.0 5.1
Jharkhand 1.5 7.5 5.0
Uttaranchal 7.8 7.5 1.0
Nagaland 0.8 4.0 5.1
Others 4.0 4.5 -
TOTAL 58.2 356.2 6.1

8. ECOLOGICAL REQUIREMENT
 Litchi is sub-tropical fruit
 Bearing tree is much affected by HOT
 WIND causing fruit cracking
SOIL TEMPERATURE
 Alluvial soil with good drainage is The temperature should not go beyond
suitable for litchi orchard. 40.5°Cin summer and below freezing point in
 It can grow in wide range of soils winter
from light sandy to heavy clay hot winds are not favorable
 Acids soils leads to produces
good quality of fruits

9. VARIETIES
1) Haak Yip: The fruit is heart shape and weight is 20-22g ,soft and purplish red
.sweet in taste, cultivated in Thailand , Taiwan and china
2) Waichee :fruits are small (16-18g) round with deep skin
and flesh with abundant sweet juice. cultivated in china and
India
3. Muzaffarpur: The fruit is deep orange to pink with medium juicy sweet pulp.
Grown in India

10. Bombai :fruit is heart shaped,15-20g in weight .Tubercles are carmine red with
uranium green interspace .cultivar in Bengal
China: the fruit is globose with a blend nasturtium of red and marigold orange
weight is 25-27g having sweet flesh and good juice pleasant aroma . Cultivars in
India

11. PROPAGATION
Through Seed
Through vegetative
SEED
• Litchi seed loses its viability with in 4-5days of its extraction from the fruit.
• The trees raised from seeds are very slow to come into bearing and may
take 10-12 years to come to bearing
VEGETATIVE
 In vegetative propagation technique, litchi can be propagated through
cutting, budding, layering ,grafting and inarching .The bearing starts after 6 years
• AIR LAYERING(in the month June-July) is the Commercial method of
propagation

12. PROCESS OF AIR LAYERING

13. Planting
Details Usual Practice
Planting Time • August – September
• Planting may be done in spring and early summer if
irrigation facility is available
Planting Distance • 10×8m.
• Average no. of plants- 200 per ha.
Size of pits • 1x1x1 m (pits are dug a few weeks prior to planting)
Filling of pits • Pits are left undisturbed initially for a period of 15-20 days.
• Filled with top soil mixed with manures and fertilizers @
20-25 kg FYM, 2 kg
bone meal and 300g muriatic of potash per pit.
Planting • Square system of planting is usually followed.
• A small hole is made at the center of the pit and the desired
material is planted.
Water is applied immediately after planting

14. Irrigation
 Methods- Basin or ring system of irrigation is recommended.
Two irrigations at an interval of 45 – 60 days during winter
months is required for bearing litchi trees
 The trees should be irrigation at Feb-jun is necessary
 The trees are irrigated from flowering onwards until the
completion of the post-harvest flush.
 However, the growers normally irrigate the tree at 7 to 10
days
 interval from panicle emergence to fruit harvest or until the
postharvest flush appears

15. NURTIENT
MANAGEMENT
1-3 age 10-20 0.3-1.00 0.2-0.6 0.05-0.15
4-6 age 25-40 1.0-2.0 0.75-1.25 0.20-0.30
7-10 age 40-50 2.0-3.0 1.50-2.0 0.35-0.45
Above 10 age 60 3.5 2.25 0.60
Age of the plant
(in years)
Manure/Fertilizer applied (per plant/year in kg)
FYM (kg) CAN (Calcium
ammonium
nitrate) (gm)
Super phosphate
(gm)
Muriate of potash
(gm)

16. Intercultural Operations
 Mulching- The farmyard
manure, compost or straw may
be used for soil mulching.
 Cutting down of tall growing
weeds in the orchard and
spreading them over the soil is
another method of mulching the
soil
 Training & Pruning- After
planting, a certain amount of
pruning is often necessary to
give proper shape to the litchi
plant
 Once the desired shape is
achieved, no pruning is usually
necessary, except the removal
of dead or diseased branches

17. Weed control
 Weeds compete with the trees for water and nutrients.
 Us of a Mulches or chemical weed control without tillage likely to prove the
beneficial of litchi
 Reduce costs by growing mulch material between the rows
for later slashing.

18. Maturity index
 Colour change to deep red
 flattened of tubercles
 smoothening of Epicarp
STAGES OF MATURITY

19. Harvesting
During harvest the temperature(24-28°c)
 Depending on the tree age there are four
growth phases in litchi plants
 young non-bearing stage (1-3 years),
 young bearing stage (6-10 years),
 junior adult bearing stage (11-20 years)
 senior adult bearing stage (21 years and
above).
 Harvesting is usually done in May and June.
 The fruits are harvested in bunches along with a portion of the branch
and a few leaves.
55 to 60 days from flowering to harvest

20. Yield and storage
 80-150 kg fruits/tree.
 Storage temp:- 0°c to 1°c with 80-85% RH.
 Storage life:- 3-5weeks.
 Grade used in litchi:-extra class, grade-I, grade-II.
 Dipping the fruit bunches in to ethrel to increase the fruit colour

21. SL.
No
Pest name Causal organism symptom management
1 Fruit fly Bactocera dorsalis 5 gm. trichloroform
with 10 lts of water.
2 Fruit borer Cryptophlebia illepida fenvolarate @ 0.01%.
3 Eriophide mite Acaria litchi Pruning and apply
spinosyn.
4 Bark eating
caterpillar
Inderbella tetragonis Plugging the hole
with formalin.
5 Red rust algae Sulphur spray 3
times in autumn and
spring.
Pests of litchi

22. SL.
NO.
Disorder name Causing by symptom management
1 Little leaf Zn deficiency. Apply ZnSo4.
2 Fruit crack Excess water with high
temperature.
Irrigate properly.
3 Chicken tongue Embryo abortion. Properly pollinate
the plant.
4 Sun burn Direct exposure of sun
light.
Practice of sod
Culture.
Physiological disorders of litchi

23. DISEASES
1) Anthracnose:
 The small spots develop into large, brown spots indicative of fruit rot.
 Most of the rot found in mature fruit comes from the infection of young fruit
 Finally, a white mycelium appears on the fruit during storage
Favourable conditions:
 During the rainy season, the rain water trickling through the diseased leaves is richly laden
with the spores of the pathogens to cause further infections .The fungus may not always
cause immediate disease, which sometimes only becomes apparent after harvest

24. 2) Root rot/wilt:
 One side of the tree’s crown may be perfectly sound/good and the other totally
necrosis.
 Leaf shed never occurs (it does in the case of a nematode attack) and the
internal parts of the roots are characteristically red in colour.
 The symptoms include a sudden branch wilt new growth on the affected branch
over a period. In other situations, the tips die without wilting.
Favourable conditions:
 Moist soil and humid conditions favour the development of disease.

25. 3) Leaf rust:
 Later, larger areas of leaves are affected with this growth. Old and thick leaves
show various types of malformation. Their growth turns light brown to brick-red.
 On the upper surface, just the opposite site of the lesion, chlorotic patches occur.
As the leaves unfold and increase in size, the velvety growth becomes more
prominent and dense
 Favourable conditions:
 Frequent rains and warm weather are favorable conditions for these
pathogens

26. Uses of litchi fruit

27. REFERENCES:
 Fruits Book by RANJIT SINGH From pg:140 to145
 scientific fruit culture by D.Veerargavathatham,
m.jawaharal,s.jeeva,r.Rabindran, G.Umapathy . Pg. 212-215
 www.production Guidelines of litchi
 www.world litchi cultivars
 Management of Horticultural crops by Singh H. P.

28. THANK YOU