Lychee Farming in Pakistan

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Lychee Farming in Pakistan


Lychee, the queen of fruit is an emerging fruit crop of Pakistan. It was introduced here in early 1932 by Sardar Faqir Singh from Dera Dune, India, and remained an exotic plant until 1960s when commercial production started from few orchards located near Begum Kot, Lahore of Punjab province.

Owing to its good fruit quality and profitability in early sixties, large scale plantations expanded to North West Frontier Province (NWFP) (Harri Pur, Hazara and Khan Pur) and later to Sindh (Tando Allah Yar, Nawab Shah, Moro, Mir Pur Khas) province. At present it is grown on an area of around 3000 acres with annual production of about 9250 MT. The main cultivars are Bedana, Calcutti, Dera Dune/Gola, Bombay, Chinese, Lychee Siah and Madrasi. Gola and Calcutti are two widely grown commercial cultivars, the former is consistent bearer while later shows alternate bearing habit. Nursery plants are propagated asexually through pot layering with 80% success rate.

System of irrigation is surface flooding. Over 95% orchards are marketed through pre-harvest contractors. Fruits are mostly commercialized using mulberry baskets with 20-80 kg net weight. Harvesting season is well distributed and starts from May (Sindh) through June (Punjab) to July (NWFP province). Over 90% fruit is domestically consumed as fresh with little processing and negligible exports. Due to hot dry weather fruit skin cracking is the biggest issue in Southern Punjab. Main constraints for lychee production are: lack of quality nursery plants, long juvenile period (7-8 years), insufficient R&D based information for nutritional requirements, shortage of irrigation water and high postharvest losses.

Potential of lychee remains under exploit so far, better production infra-structure and postharvest facilities are needed to boost industry for quality production and exports. This paper gives comprehensive information on Pakistan lychee industry, along with the potential and future prospects.


Sialkot

 

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Growing lychee trees under date palm in Khairpur

By Shaukat Ali Bhambhro

The predominant fruit crop of Khairpur district in upper Sindh is date-palm. According to a conservative estimate, around 100,000 acre of district land is under date-palm cultivation. Recently, a new trend, of growing different crops and fruit trees under the canopy of date-palm, has been observed, and the reason behind these inter-cropping gaining popularity is lucrative returns.

Climatically, Khairpur district is sub-arid to arid. Its eastern part is comprised of vast Nara desert. The western part of the district is irrigated by three irrigation canals which take off from Sukkur barrage. After the devastation of banana plantation following the spread of banana bunchy top disease (BBTD) growing banana under date-palm is no more considered cost-effective. Instead mango plantation with date-palm is quite common in spite of the fact that mango trees under the canopy of date-palm are vulnerable to many diseases and pests especially malformation and mildews.

However, a prudent grower of Khairpur after losing his banana plantation under date-palm orchard following the BBTD attack attempted cultivation of lychee fruit trees under the canopy of about 30-year-old date-palms. About 40 grafted lychee plants were planted between the date-palm trees which were 30 feet apart. The growth of the plants was very slow.

According to this grower, being unaware of its requirement of irrigation and fertilizer, no

special care was taken even of plant protection. As a matter of fact, irrigation and fertilizer applied to date-palm were also meant for the every lychee plants. But to his surprise, the lychee plants gave fruit this year after attaining four years of age. With the present rate of growth, it appears that after 10 years these plants may assume the shape of trees.

A review has revealed that lychee is a long-lived tree. Although if we do not consider the references in Chinese literature to 800-year-old trees as accurate, it seems probable that trees may remain in profitable bearing for more than a century. Under the unusual conditions prevailing in Baglore in South India, the lychee is said to bear two crops a year, in May and December.

One of the reasons behind cultivating lychee under date-palm is to protect lychee trees from the desiccating wind in drier regions. Besides, the review of literature also indicates that the lychee grows well under a variety of soil conditions, but seems to prefer a fairly deep loamy alluvial soil. Although it cannot tolerate water logging, it favours moist soil as the roots form the mycorhyzae rapidly in soggy environment. Because lychee is rather shallow rooted, deep tillage is dangerous. Therefore, ploughing in lychee orchard is not recommended and for the same reason use of mulch is suggested.

According to one Indian horticulturist, the lime content of the best lychee region of Bihar is high, about 30 per cent, and he suggests that in region where lime is deficient, it may be desirable to add it to the soil.

Roy (1952) also recommends the use of lime and sugar where its deficiency is marked, as the tree responds clearly to its application.This may be desirable only where very little calcium is present, as is suggested by the fact that lychee has failed on the alkaline soil of Israel.

In South Africa, lychee trees make much more vigorous growth on acid soil than on

neutral or slightly alkaline soil. To assure the presence of the mycorhyzal fungi, the use of soil from under the old trees for propagating new ones, it would seem, however, that the lychee is probably capable of growing well on either acid or basic soil. The Chinese are said to believe that the nature of the soil has a marked influence on the quality of the fruit yield. Only a small percentage of the flowers develop into fruits. Failure in producing and the drop of many of the fruits during the first month may be caused by the lack of fertilization or embryo abortion resulting from the chromosome irregularities.

After these trees come into bearing, the yield should increase for at least 20 years. Under favourable conditions, the lychee bears heavily and regularly. Although Stephens (1935) states that in Queensland a crop is borne only once in two or three years. He indicates that on an average crop is about 200 to 300 lb per tree.

Lychee is a fruit of lychee chinensis (family: Sapeindaceae) consisting of thin, brittle shell enclosing a sweet, jelly like pulp and a single seed. The original home of lychee is in China. India probably is second in production of lychee where only in North Bihar the total area under cultivation of this seasonal fruit is reportedly 26,000 hectares.

According to a recent survey report of a senior scientist of the Indian Institute of Horticulture Research, Banglore litchi grown over one acre of land in Muzafferpur (Bihar) can be sold at a minimum price of Rs100,000 in the UK.The very agriculture scientist has claimedin her comprehensive report that being the costliest fruit in the world, fresh lychee is sold at the rate of Rs500 to Rs12,00 per kgin different parts of the globe.

The lychee has had a long and honorable history in China where it has been carefully

cultivated and greatly appreciated for many centuries. The first reference to this fruit in literature may be as early as 1760 BC., but this is a questionable. Apparently, the lychee reached Burma and eastern India by the end of the 17thcentury or shortly thereafter. Lychee plants are medium to large, much branched, round-topped and evergreen reaching up to 12 -15 meters, leaves pinnately compound. The inflorescence is a compound raceme, bears small , off-white unisexual and bisexual flowers. The fruit develops into bunches and varies in shape and size. The lychee plants require warm, humid climate for vegetative growth. Dry hot air is injurious for the fruit.

The edible portion (50-75 per cent of fruit weight of litchi contains mainly carbohydrate (sugar), protein, fat, vitamin (B and C), calcium and iron.

After a successful cultivation of litchi under date palm orchards in District Khairpur it is suggested that necessary arrangements for large scale promotion of this fruit crop are required to be made by the horticulture division of PARC Islamabad.

 

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Sindh — a better home for lychee cultivation


LYCHEE came to Pakistan in early sixties from East Pakistan and without much study of the climate requirements, its cultivation was promoted in Punjab while considering Sindh as ‘too hot for the delicate crop’. The objection of the technical people in this regard was overruled.

No studies on climatic requirements of lychee have been done since then. The present writer brought 150 seedling from Punjab and planted them at a banana plantation near Tando Jam in January, 1965.
However, six plants proved to be of acceptable quality. They flourished and now have been productive for more than 30 years. This disproved the theory that the climate of Sindh was too hot for growing of lychee.
Now a detailed study of the Sindh climate and the lychee-growing area supports the contention that Sindh and the south of Multan are more suitable for growing lychee as compared to the northern Punjab or NWFP.

The climatic requirements for growing lychee, in brief, are; (a) location from 23°-30° north and south of Equator. This covers, whole Sindh 24° to 28° 30’N and Southern Punjab between 28°-30’ to 30’N; (b) High lychee production is in southern China at 24°N and 121°E; c) Northern Indian st ates producing lychee have temperature range of 4° to 38°C and usually not below 4°C; (d) frost in winter is a limiting factor for lychee;(e) Hot temperatures above 38°C cause fruit splitting, but reduction in irrigation 3-4 weeks harvest in May and June reduces it; (f)Average January maximum temperature of 19° and minimum of 9°C occur in lychee growing area of China with mean 13.5°C.

The temperatures of various places in Sindh in the given table.

In Queensland lychee does well in area minimum temperature 7-10°C in coldest month; young tree are injured at -0.5 to -1.0°C and killed at -2.2 to 1.6°C. These temperatures are frequents even in the Southern Punjab; late frosts kill lychee flowers.

This can happen once in 10 years in Sindh and quite frequently in Punjab; chill requirement of lychee i.e., hours having minimum temperatures below 7.2°C is 200-300 hours or units; larkana \on 27°N has nearly the same climate at Alstonville (New South Wales) Australia on 29°C and where lychee is grown with reasonable yields.

Heat accumulation of lychee i.e., temperatures needed above 10°C for ripening are 588-688 degree days. Harvest at Hyderabad will be on May 15 and at Rohri May 23. In Multan it will be end June and in the northern Punjab in first fortnight of July.

In brief, lychee can be grown in whole Sindh. It is highly paying crop and accounts for 2 ½ times the income from any other fruit crop. The importance of lychee in the international market can be assessed from the fact that there have been three international lychee and longan conferences.

A journal, “Living Lychee” is being published. There have been series of publications on lychee produced in past 25 years in additional to annual lychee conferences in Australia and South Africa and their proceedings from these countries. Lychee is headed for a new export crop on large scale.

 

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Khanpuri Gola Lychee plants are available

The lychee, litchi, leechee, or lichee (Litchi chinensis; Chinese: 荔枝) is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to the Guangdong and Fujian provinces of China, and now cultivated in many parts of the world.

The fresh fruit has a "delicate, whitish pulp" with a floral smell and a fragrant, sweet flavor. Since this perfume-like flavor is lost in the process of canning, the fruit is usually eaten fresh. An evergreen tree reaching 10–28 metres (33–92 ft) tall, the lychee bears fleshy fruits that are up to 5 cm long and 4 cm wide (2.0 in × 1.6 in), approximately 20g. The outside of the fruit is covered by a pink-red, roughly textured rind that is inedible but easily removed to expose a layer of sweet, translucent white flesh.

Lychees are eaten in many different dessert dishes, and are especially popular in China, throughout Southeast Asia, along with South Asia and parts of Southern Africa. China is the main producer of lychees, followed by India, with production occurring among other countries in Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent and South Africa.

The lychee has a history and cultivation going back to 2000 BC according to records in China. Cultivation began in the area of southern China, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Wild trees still grow in parts of southern China and on Hainan Island. There are many stories of the fruit's use as a delicacy in the Chinese Imperial Court. It was first described and introduced to the West in 1656 by Michal Boym, a Polish Jesuit missionary (at that time Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth).

 

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Another blessing of Allah Subhanatala.