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The country's main production season occurs in May and June, with smaller amounts of litchi available from farms around Dehra Dun in northern Uttar Pradesh from mid-July to mid-August. Hot dry winds in summer, when the fruit is ripening, are very undesirable. It grows well in sandy and clayey loams containing large quantities of lime. Although about 100 varieties of litchi are identified the worldover, only 15 of them are reported to be commercially cultivated in India. In Bihar, the recommended varieties include the `China, `Purbi’, `Deshi’, `Bedana’ and `Dehra Rose’; in Uttar Pradesh, `Rose-scented’, `Early Large Red’, `Kalkatia’, `Gulabi’ and `Late Seedless’, and in West Bengal, `China’ and `Muzaffarpur’. Air-layering is the commonest method. Inarching, budding and grafting are also possible. One-year-old layers are planted nine metres apart in pits during the rainy season. As the fruit is borne on the growth of the previous year, the common practice of breaking off a metre or so of a branch along with the bunch of fruits is all the pruning that is necessary. It is advisable to protect young trees against frost with a thatch and against hot and dry winds by growing wind-breaks. Remove weeds from time to time and irrigate from January onwards until the fruits mature. In addition to bulky organic manures, a complete fertilizer mixture should be given to supply N. P. and K and Ca in the case of soils deficient in lime. Fruit bunches are broken from the tree by hand. A mature tree produces about 110 kg of fruit each year. Besides a short production season, a short shelf life makes marketing fresh litchi difficult. Research into new treatment methods to maintain product quality and increase shelf life is ongoing. Two means of greatly increasing shelf life are pre-cooling and refrigerated transport, which, in conjunction with other treatments such as sulphur dioxide (SO2) fumigation, make long distance sea shipments possible. Exporters, however, should be aware that many countries are severely restricting or even banning the use of many chemicals on perishable produce. For example, hot-water dip with benomyl, a treatment being used in Australia to maintain fruit quality, is not allowed in the United States, and SO2 treatment, used to prevent color loss in fresh litchi, is being more closely regulated in France. There, the maximum tolerance of SO2 allowed on fresh litchi is 10 milligrams per kilogram for pulp and 250 milligrams per kilogram for skin. Cartons of SO2-treated litchi must be marked with either the words "traité par l'anhydride sulfureux [treated with sulphur dioxide]" or "conservé au moyen de l'anhydride sulfureux [preserved by means of sulphur dioxide]." Export markets in Europe and North America uses no official grades and standards. However, based on interviews importers prefer large, small-seed, bright red fruit with firm flesh. Fruit size and weight in cartons (mostly fiberboard, with a capacity of 2 kilograms or 5 kilograms) should be uniform. Producing countries, in contrast, maintain a number of production/export standards. For instance, Australia has three classes of fresh litchis (Extra, First, and Second) and sets standards for fruit diameter (minimum 20 millimeters), weight (all fruit should weigh within 20 percent of the average individual fruit weight in a carton), and general appearance (intact, sound, clean, mature, and free of abnormal external moisture, disease, and foreign smell or taste). Grades are differentiated by tolerances for defects and blemishes. |
