Cultivation of Litchi - Varieties, Propagation, Planting, Harvesting

1. Botanical name : Litchi chinensis
Family : Sapindaceae
Origin : Southern China
Chromosome No. : 2n = 28, 30, 32
Excellent source of vitamin C and Antioxidants
Production technology of Litchi (or) lychee
Dr. M. Kumaresan (Hort.)
Department of Horticulture
Vels Institute of Science, Technology & Advanced
Studies (VISTAS)
Pallavaram, Chennai, Tamil Nadu -600117

2. Litchi (or) lychee

3. Introduction
• Litchi is a delicious juicy fruit
• It is a native fruit of warm subtropic zone of China - juice of excellent quality
• Tree is a medium large evergreen with more branches
• Fruits are produced in bunches
• Fruit is a one seeded nut, the pericarp is the skin, which has papillate projection
like strawberry
• Fleshy aril surrounding the seed is the edible portion, which separates easily
from seed and skin
• Litchi growing countries: China, Taiwan, Thailand, India, South Africa,
Australia and Madagascar

4. Composition and uses
• The fruits are a rich source of sugar (6-20%), protein (0.7%), fat (0.3%), minerals like
calcium (10mg) phosphorus (35mg) and vitamins like vitamin C (64mg), vitamin B1
(0.2mg), B2 (0.03 mg and B3 (0.1 mg) per 100g
• Fruits can be canned, made into squash, pickles, and wine or dried to form litchi nut

5. Origin and Distribution
• Origin of litchi is from southern China
• Spread other parts of the world was rather slow probably due to its soil, climatic
requirements and short life span of its seed.
• Litchi reached India through Myanmar and North East region during the 18th
Century.

6. Climatic and soil
• A warm subtropical climate is ideal for the growth and flowering of litchi
• Winter should be cool as well as dry and devoid of frost (minimum temperature
150C)
• During new flush, the temperature should be 28-30oC with high RH and heavy
rainfall
• During harvest the temperature should be around 24-28oC with bright sunlight and
high relative humidity
• An alluvial soil with good is the best for the growth of litchi
• Soil pH should be around 5.5

7. Haak Yip
Haak Yip
• Fruit is heart shaped each weighing 20-22g, skin is thin, soft and purplish red
• Flesh has an excellent aroma and is sweet in taste
• It separates easily from flesh
• It is the commercial cultivar of Thailand, Taiwan and China

8. Tai-so
Tai-so
• Fruits are egg shaped each weighing 22-26g, bright red skin changing to dull red at
maturity, flesh is sweet
• It is the commercial cultivar of Australia, Queensland and South Africa (Where
it is known as Mauritius)

9. Waichee and Rose secented
Waichee
• Fruit are small (16-18g) round with deep red skin
• It possesses soft flesh with abundant sweet juice
• It is cultivated in China and Australia
Rose secented
• Fruits are oblong conical with deep rose pink skin, pulp grayish white
• Aril has a delicate rosy flavor
• It is an important cultivar of India
Calcuttia and China: Upright tree growth habit - HDP

10. Muzaffarpur
Muzaffarpur
• One of the important litchi varieties mainly
grown in Bihar and its adjacent states.
• Fruits are oval or oblong- conical, deep
orange to pink with medium juicy sweet
pulp
• This variety bears profusely every year with
an average yield of 80-100 kg/tree
• It is grown in India

11. Bombai and China
Bombai
• Fruit is heart shaped, 15-20g in weight usually with
another under-developed fruit attached to stalk
• It is an important commercial cultivar of West Bengal
China
• Fruits are globose with a blend of red and marigold
orange
• Fruits are large, 25-27g having a sweet flesh with good
juice and pleasant aroma
• It is also one of the important cultivars of India

12. Propagation
• Commercial propagation of litchi is air layering
• Litchis can also be propagated by seeds, grafting or cuttings.
• Air layering done during spring and early summer season
• Stooling, apical grafting, approach grafting and shield budding are other methods of
propagation
• A windbreak should be established around the litchi orchard using eucaluptus,
casuarinas, jamun preferably before one year of establishment of litchi orchard

13. Planting
• Pits of 1 M3 are dug, allowed for a week, filled with 25kg FYM +2 kg of bone
meal and 300g of muriate of potash
• Spacing recommended is 10 M x 10 M
• If the soil is not fertile and the climate is comparatively dry, the spacing can be
reduced to 8 M x 8 M.

14. • Branches with narrow crotches should be removed
• Terminal buds in long branching cultivars should be removed to encourage
branching.
• However intensive removal of vegetative growth should be avoided as otherwise it
will delay the next season flowering.
Training and interculture

15. Plant protection
• Bark feeder (Indarbela tertronis) can be controlled by application of carbon
disulphide or formalin
• Leaf rollers can be controlled by Nuvan which has fumigant
• Red rust can be controlled by spraying lime sulphur -3 times during autumn and 3
times during spring
• Leaf galls, caused by eriophid mite is a common problem. This can be reduced by
pruning and spraying of conventional (or) new avermectin compounds viz.,
spinosyn, emanectin, spiromesifen etc.,

16. Flowering, harvest and yield
• Litchi trees vegetatively propagated come to flower at the age of 3 –5 years
• The new flush arising in spring end in inflorescence
• Fruits are harvested after full maturity and ripening on the tree itself
• Fruits are harvested as bunches, pre-cooled and then stored at 0oC to 1oC

17. Physiological disorders
• Litchi is affected by many physiological disorders
– Fruit cracking and splitting
– Flower and fruit drop
– Sunburn
– Irregular bearing
– Black tip, etc.
• Incidence and severity of these physiological disorders vary with locality, season,
cultivar and orchard management practices

18. Fruit cracking
• Most important disorder occurring in almost all the
important litchi growing countries of the world
causing losses as high as 5-70%
• Disorder is associated with hot dry weather, drought
and low calcium and boron concentrations.
• This can occur after irrigation or heavy rain, or just after an increase in relative humidity.
• Application of calcium @ 2 ml/l or application of 2, 4-D and NAA @ 20 ppm reduced
fruit cracking

19. Sunburn
• Occurrence of sunburn on fruits is a serious problem in India, South Africa,
Australia and Thailand
• Damage caused due to sunburn occurs up to 0.9-19.13% in different varieties
• Orchards having insufficient irrigation during fruit development stage favour
sunburn
• Light and sandy soils, only light irrigation with increased frequency (4-5 days
interval) is found to reduce the chances of sunburn

20. Flower and fruit drop
• Litchi trees suffer a heavy flower and fruit drop between flowering and fruit
maturity
• Only a small proportion of flower (2-18%) is carried up to maturity in different
cultivars
• Fruit drop may occur due to failure of fertilization, embryo abortion, nutrition
and hormonal imbalance and external factors like high temperature, low
humidity and strong westerly winds
• Timely treatment of plants for strong and healthy shoot production delays flowering
phase and increases the female flower ratio and finally the fruit-set
• Visits of honey-bees in orchards ensure better pollination and fertilization which
increases the fruit set and retention

21. Irregular bearing
• Irregular bearing is a serious problem in almost all litchi growing areas of the
country
• Bearing terminals of current year are more productive (70-95%)
• Late harvesting and severe pruning operations may lead to non bearing in that
particular year of operation
• Applying proper nutrition, irrigation and controlling insect-pest infestation can
significantly reduce the intensity of this malady
• Proper pruning and training operations (semicircular canopy) give rise to strong
and healthy flush that bear fruits in ensuing season
• Late pruning and training should be avoided

22. Retarded/ underdeveloped fruits
• Ensuring presence of pollinators in the bearing orchards during flowering to fruit
set stage and spraying plain water in early morning hours of the day during the
advanced stage of fruit growth and development have been found highly effective.
• An arrangement of sprinkler system of irrigation may be done to reducing this
disorder