Lychee, Longan, Rambutan

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Lychee, Longan, Rambutan
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World Production and Distribution

• Production figures not available but produced in

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World Production and Distribution

• Florida Production
• Lychee - 500 acres
• Longan - 400 acres
• Rambutan- Too cold in Florida

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Origin and Botany

• China origin, grown for thousands of years
• Spread to other countries in
• 17-1800s

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Origin and Botany

• Family
• Sapindaceae (Soapberry)
• 130 genera
• 1100 species
• Also includes
• Soapberry (Sapindus)
• Spanish lime (Melicocca)

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Origin and Botany

• Important species
• Lychee - Litchi sinensis
• Longan - Dimocarpus longan
• Akee - Blighia sapida
• Rambutan - Nephelium lappacium

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Growth and Development

• Temperature requirements
• Subtropical, low temp. Needed for flowering
• Will tolerate -3 to -4C without damage

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Growth and Development - Seed

• Located within aril and fruit
• Viable 4-5 days after removal
• Germinates 4-10 days depending on temp.
• Note Mycorrhizae may improve germination

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Growth and Development

• Vegetative Characteristics
• Tree
• Large, long-lived evergreen
• Leaves
• Alternate, pinnately compound, 2-5 leaflets
• Leaf shape
• Elliptical, large (lychee)
• Three-4 growth flushes/year

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Flowering

• Terminal panicles (1000-3000 flowers/panicle in
  Rambutan)
• Structure (lychee and Longan) - small flowers,
  yellow-green

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Flowering

• Structure (Rambutan) - similar to lychee (male,
  herm. Female, herm. Both)
• Time - Nov.-April, rest period needed to
  flower, but not true dormancy

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Pollination and Fruit Set

• Selfing gives low set
• Crossing better flower set
• Stigmas of female split and become sticky and
  receptive

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Pollination and Fruit Set

• Pollinators are insects seeking nectar (bees)

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Fruit Characteristics

• Single ovary, 2 locules (carpels) with seed, skin
  (pericarp)
• Aril (of seed) develops into edible portion

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Fruit Characteristics

• Fruit growth sigmoid curve, develops in
• Lychee
• 80-112 d
• aril 25 d
• 3-16 TSS
• TA decrease

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Fruit Characteristics

• Longan
• Approx. 100 d
• aril 50 d
• 3-16 TSS
• TA decrease

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Fruit Characteristics

• Fruit size, 12-30 g/fruit
• Note begin 2 locules (carpels), one develops
• But aril is outgrowth of funiculus in seed, free
  from seed in lychee, longan, attached for rambutan

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Fruit Characteristics

• Fruit composition (see table 8.8, pg. 206)
• Generally high niacin, ascorbic acid, K
• Differ among species, e.g. Rambutan gt litchi
  longan in vit. C

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Cultivars

• Cultivars
• Desirable characters include
• Good size, high edible portion, high TSS, and
  regular cropping, seed size, yield.
• Also include disease resistance, regular
  flowering, retain skin color during storage

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Cultivars

• Major Florida cultivars include
• Brewster and Maritius lychee
• Kohala longan
• Chompoo rambutan

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Rootstocks

• Seedling rootstock used, but not widely used
  because of graft incompatibility

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Cultural Practices
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Propagation

• Seeds -
• Rootstocks
• Seedlings
• Air layers
• Effective 100
• 8-10 wks
• Produce an entire tree

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Spacing and Planting

• Spacing varies with cultivar, climate
• Florida in rows 5.5-9.1 m, between rows 6.7-9.1
  m, or 120-270 trees/ha
• Subtropics 6x6 m, 278 trees/ha
• Similar for longan, rambutan
• Planted anytime, usually use 6-12 mo. old trees

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Nutrition and Fertilization

• Young trees-every 4 months
• Years 1 and 2 - 14-14-14 about 125-250 g/tree
• Mature trees-every 3 mos. 250-455 g/tree

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Pruning

• Some training of young trees, remove lower limbs
  side shoots to 1 m height
• Mature trees some shaping, heading back to
  promote lateral growth
• Some flower thinning done
• Florida - mechanical hedging and topping

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Yields

• Yields vary due to variable flowering and fruit
  set
• In some years there is no crop!

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Yields

• Yield from 50 kg to 200 (20 yr. old) to 500 kg
• Brewster 90-135 kg/tree
• Maritius 20-60 kg/tree
• Yields 25-30 mT/ha

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Yields

• Factors contributing to yield variation
• Cultivar
• Climate
• Most important
• Need good vegetative growth after harvest
• Rest to induce flowers, flower fruit dev.
• Then good vegetative growth again

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Diseases

• Generally fairly disease resistant
• Anthracnose - fruit drop
• Powdery mildew - rambutan on leaves
• Several postharvest fungi

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Pests

• Mites - Erinose mite - feeds on leaves
• Insects - several
• Some borers
• Leafminer
• Occasionally fruit flies

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Harvesting and Post Harvest
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Harvesting

• Harvesting (mid May-July in Florida)
• Maturity based on color, will not ripen
  postharvest, time of year
• Entire panicle is cut, sold as-is or fruit packed
  separately

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Harvesting

• Postharvest handling
• Major problem - skin browning may be reduced by
  SO2 treatment or packing in plastic
• Fungi - Penicillium, Alternaria, Colletotrichum

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Uses

• Fresh
• Peeled, canned in syrup
• Oven or sun-dried