Production Technology of Litchi

Litchi

Litchi is very popular both in home and abroad for its appealing flavour and taste.

Litchi is grown mainly in greater Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Kustia, Jessore, Pabna,

Mymensingh and Chittagong districts and Chittagong Hill Tracts. At present, the total

area and production of litchi is 1.86 thousand hectares and 66.5 thousand metric tonsrespectively in Bangladesh (BBS, 2011).

Production Technology of Litchi

Land and soil

High and medium high land should be selected for planting litchi trees. In hilly areas, the

hill slopes should be below 450. The litchi can be grown in almost all kinds of soil, but

performs better in deep well drained loamy soil having pH 6.5-6.8.

Time of transplanting

The planting of litchi should be done when the weather is neither too wet nor too dry.

The best planting time is May-June which might help in the establishment of young

plants. Planting may also be done after the rainy season i.e. August-September where

there is a scope of irrigation.

Sapling collection

Litchi can be propagated through sexual and asexual means. However, air layering

(or marcottage) is the most economic and popular method of vegetative propagation.

Litchi sapling should be of an ideal variety adaptive to the location. The sapling

should be healthy, strong and disease free, and should be collected from a reliable

nursery or from Government farm.

Mid season high yielding, regular bearing, small seeded, good

quality and high value variety. Plants are big trees, dome

shaped, spreading and moderately vigorous. It flowers in

late January; fruit are set in mid to late February and

peak harvesting period: 2nd week of June. Fruit are big

weighing: 26g each, globose in juicy. Attractive deep red in

colour and white flesh. Pulp is soft, very juicy and very sweet

(22% TSS) and pleasant in flavour. The number of fruit in each

plant: 5000 and weighing: 130 kg. Very high edible portion:

75%. Tolerant to common insect pests and diseases of litchi.

Possess export potentiality. This variety is commercially

suitable for cultivation in Dinajpur and Rangpur region. Fruit

yield: 10-13 t/ha.

BARI

Lichu-4

(2008)

Late season high yielding, regular bearing variety. Plants are

medium tree, dome shaped, spreading and less vigorous. It

flowers in late January to early February; fruits are set in

mid to late February and harvested in early June. Fruits are

medium weighing: 21.8g each. Number of fruit per tree:

3500 and their weight: 73.5 kg. Heart shaped, deep red in

colour, very juicy and sweet (17.5% TSS). Edible portion:

73%. Tolerant to common insect pests and diseases of litchi.

Possess export potentiality. Suitable for eastern hilly region.

Fruit yield: 11.5 t/ha in 15 years old trees.

BARI

Lichu-5

(2012)

Name of

Varieties Important Characteristics Crop

(Year of Release)

Transplanting method

Spacing: The planting distance varies with variety, fertility level of the soil and

growing conditions in the area. Where the growth is vigorous, the distance should be

10m x 10m, but where the growth is less, it can be reduced to about 8m x 8m. For

dwarf varieties (like BARI Lichu-3) 7m x 7m distance is sufficient.

Pit preparation: The pit should be at least 1m x1m x 1m in size. The pit should

remain exposed for 10 to 15 days before it is filled with soil, manures and fertilizers.

The pit needs to be filled with 15-20 kg well rotten cowdung or compost, 500g TSP,

400g MP, 250g gypsum and 50g zinc sulphate. A basket of soil from an old litchi

orchard, which contains mycorrhizal fungi, should be added. The soil of the pit needs

to be watered if the soil is dry during pit filling.

Transplanting: At the planting time a small hole is made at the centre of the refilled

pit and the desired air-layer is planted. Pot plants have a very brittle root system and

should be handled carefully to minimize the damage of roots. Water should be

applied immediately after planting. Staking and fencing are also necessary. The

young litchi plant is very delicate and the mortality rate after planting is high. This is

due to non-hardened planting material and lack of proper care at the time of planting

and afterwards.

Fertilizer dose and application method

The nutritional requirements vary with region depending upon the type of soil and

age of tree. The year to year dosage of fertilizers is indicated below.

Requirement of manures and fertilizers (year to year nutrient doses) are as follows:

Manures and Fertilizers

Age of plant, (year)

2 - 4 5 - 7 8 - 10 11 - 15 16 - 20 > 20

Cowdung (kg) 10 - 15 16 - 20 21 - 25 26 - 30 31 - 40 41 - 50

Urea (g) 250 500 750 1000 1500 2000

TSP (g) 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

MP (g) 200 400 750 1000 1250 1500

Gypsum (g) 100 150 200 250 300 400

Zinc sulphate (g) 10 15 20 30 40 50

Boric acid (g) 10 15 20 30 40 50

Fertilizers should be applied in three split doses, one third should be done

immediately after harvesting of the fruits in May-June, other one third should be in

September- October at the end of rainy season, and the last installment should be at

the time of fruit set (February).

The manures and fertilizers should be duly placed into the ground in trenches that

may be 30cm wide, 10-15cm deep and 30cm away from the base of a one year old

plant. In this manner, the circular trench/canal around the tree may have to be made

2-3m away from the trunk in 10-12 years and 4m away in about 30 years. The

manures and fertilizers should be applied evenly in the canal/trench which is then

back filled in with soil.

The manures and fertilizers may also be applied by spading or ploughing the soil

around the plant up to the area shaded by the plant at noon. The manures and

fertilizers should be spread all over but 1 m away from the trunk and then mixed with

soil by spading or ploughing up to a depth of 10-15 cm. There must be an irrigation

of the soil after each application of fertilizer whether the same is spread over the

surface or in the trenches.

Irrigation

Irrigation is essential during flowering, fruit setting and development since during

this period the soil moisture and atmospheric humidity remains very low. At the time

of flowering, the temperature in most of the region in Bangladesh remains within 27-

280C, but it increase afterwards and transpiration rises considerably. Generally, no

irrigation is given to bearing trees as a result of which moisture stress due to

prolonged period of drought causes yield reduction through fruit drop. The fruits

which remain do not develop fully and they often split and become unfit for

consumption. Young plants also suffer due to shortage of water resulting poor growth

and sometimes death. Irrigation of young trees should be done by basin system. The

full grown trees are irrigated by flooding or by furrow system. Irrigation atfortnightly

interval after fruit set gives good harvest. Irrigation should not be provided before

flowering of litchi trees. Irrigation is also essential after the application of fertilizers.

3.3 Intercultural Operation

The orchard should be ploughed two times in a year-first operation should be done

before the onset of rainy season. This helps checking run-off losses and facilitate

maximum intake of water into the soil, and suppressing weed. Orchards may be

ploughed again after the rainy season is over so as to suppress the weed growth and

also to break capillaries.

Training of litchi plants during the early years is necessary to provide a good

framework. Once the desirable shape and strong framework is achieved, no pruning is

usually necessary, except the removal of dead or diseased branches and damaged

shoots or cross limbs. Since litchi flowers are borne mostly on terminal shoots of

current year’s growth, and old shoots rarely produce flowers, some pruning to

promote new growth, by snipping of old branches appears to be justified. This is done

indirectly when a part of the shoot bearing the cluster of fruits is removed during

harvesting. Heavy pruning of the tree causes profuse vegetative growth resulting in

poor fruiting. In case, the tree is making too much vegetative growth both shoot and

root pruning is necessary.

Mulching is generally practiced for conserving soil moisture and suppressing weed

growth. Dried leaves, straw or water hyacinth are generally used as mulch. The use of

mulch will encourage the development of better root system of young litchi plants.

Pest management

Major pests and diseases and their control:

3.4 Harvesting and Fruit preservation

Quality of litchi fruits depends on the stage of harvest; because litchi is a nonclimacteric

fruit and does not improve in quality after harvest. Maturity of fruit is

judged by colour development, flatness of tubercles and comparative smoothness of

the epicarp. The fruit colour changes from greenish to pinkish red colour. The

development of red pigmentation was found to be associated with anthocyanin

pigment. Generally, fruit are harvested at about 55-60 days after fruit set. Fruit are

harvested in May-June in bunches with few leaves. This is said to prolong the storage

life of the fruit and at the same time the tree receives mild pruning. If the individual

fruit is harvested, the skin at the stem end is ruptured causing the fruit to rot quickly.

The fruits should not be harvested immediately after rains when the trees are wet as

the spoilage of the fruit in storage would be high. Harvesting should be done in the

cool part of the day preferably in late afternoon. Harvested fruit must not be kept

under direct sun.