Horticulture

2. COMMERCIALLITCHICULTIVATIONINBANGLADESH

3. INTRODUCTION
 Botanical Name : Litchi chinensis
 Origin : South China
 Kingdom : Plantae
 Order : Sapindales
 Family : Sapindaceae
 Sub-family : Sapindoideae
 Inflorescence : Panicle
 Chromosome : 2n =30
 Edible part : Aril
 Pollination Type : cross pollination
 Mechanism of pollinate: Insect

4. INTRODUCTION
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, (aril- 70-86% peel-8-15%, seed-4-18%
Edible portion: fleshly aril
Pollination system: cross pollinated crop

5. Geographical distribution & climate
Geography:
 China is the biggest producer of litchi in the world.
 In Bangladesh, Litchi grows almost all over Bangladesh but the main areas of cultivation are
Rajshahi, Rangpur, Dinajpur, Khulna, Dhaka, Kushtia, Sylhet, Jashore and Chittagong districts.
Climate:
 The temperature should not go beyond 40.5°C in summer and below freezing point in winter.
 Hot winds are not favorable
 Litchi is sub-tropical fruit
 Bearing tree is much affected by HOT WIND causing fruit cracking
Soil:
 Alluvial soil with good drainage is suitable for litchi orchard.
 It can grow in wide range of soils from light sandy to heavy clay
 Acids soils leads to produces good quality of fruits

6. AGRICULTUTALANALYSIS
Popular Varieties
• Bombai (the oldest high yielding
variety in the country),
• Bedana (Best quality)
• China-3 (High yielding)
• Madrajie,
• Mongalbari,
• Kadmi,
• Kalipuri,
• Muzaffarpuri,
• BARI Lichu-1,
• BARI Lichu-2
• BARI lichu-3

7. Bombai
 Most widely cultivated and good yielding variety of
Bangladesh.
 The trees attain an average height of 6 m and bear fruits
regularly.
 It is an early variety, fruits generally mature in the
2
nd
week of May.
 Fruits are mostly heart shaped, carmine red in colour
and each fruit has another tiny underdeveloped fruit attached
to the fruit stalk.
 Average weight of the fruit is 18-20 g. Pulp is soft, juicy
and sweet. TSS 17-18 percent,
 seed big, pulp: seed ratio 5:1.

8. Bedana
 This variety is considered the best variety in Bangladesh.
 The trees of this variety are medium in height (about 5
m) and spread of 6 m and regular bearer.
 The fruits are mostly globose in shape, bright red in
colour and mature in the 2nd week of June.
 Average weight of fruit is 25-28 g., pulp is creamy white
and soft, juicy, TSS 18-19 percent,
 seed small and shrunken,
 pulp : seed ratio 28:1

9. Muzaffarpuri
 The variety was brought from India and
mainly grown in the northwestern districts of
Bangladesh.
 The trees are medium in vigour and attain an
average height of 5 m.
 The fruits are pink in colour, oval shaped
and mature in the 2
nd
week of May.
 Average weight of fruit is 20 g, pulp is long
and sweet. TSS 17-18 percent,
 seed big, pulp : seed ratio 4.75 :1.

10. China-3
 One of the best varieties grown in Bangladesh.
 The trees attain an average height of 5 to 6 m with
relatively smaller leaves.
 Bearing is regular if proper management and care is
taken, otherwise they show an irregular bearing habit.
 This is a late variety and fruits ripen in the last week
of June.
 Fruits are globose, with a mixture of red, orange and
patches of green colour.
 Average weight of fruit is 25 g. Pulp is creamy white,
soft and juicy. TSS 18 percent
 seed small, pulp: seed ratio 15:1.

11. NUTRITIVEVALUEOFLITCHI
 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%)

12. PROPAGATION
 1. Sexual: By Seed
 2. Asexual: Through vegetative
SEED
 Litchi seed loses its viability with in 4-5 days 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,
 Air layering (Commercial),
 grafting and
 inarching .

13. Vegetative propagation

14. PLANTING

15. Nutrientmanagement
• 1st installment –
Before rainy season,
• 2nd Installment – After
rainy and
• 3rd installment – after
flowering

16. Culturaloperations
Mulching:
o The farmyard manure, compost or straw may be used for soil mulching.
o Cutting down of tall growing weeds in the orchard and spreading them over the soil is another
method of mulching the soil
Training & Pruning:
o After planting, a certain amount of pruning is often necessary to give proper shape to the
litchi plant
o Once the desired shape is achieved, no pruning is usually necessary, except the removal of
dead or diseased branches
Weed control:
o Weeds compete with the trees for water and nutrients.
o Use of mulches or chemical weed control without tillage likely to prove the beneficial of litchi
o Reduce costs by growing mulch material between the rows for later slashing.

17. Maturityindex
 1. Colour change to deep red,
 2. flattened of tubercles,
 3. smoothening of Epicarp,
 4. 55 to 60 days from flowering to harvest

18. Harvest
 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.

19. Yield &Storage
Yield: 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

20. Commercial products