[...]... Kim Cheng) The lychee cultivars of Thailand are, however, divided into two groups, namely the lowland lychee or the tropical lychee and the subtropical lychee The tropical lychee is well adapted and commercially grown in the Central Region with warm winter months Almost 20 cultivars are known in this group The subtropical group of lychee grows in the northern part of the country where the winter months... alter flushing and induce flowering in lychee Trees can be hedged to induce one or two vegetative flushes over summer and autumn, and a second or third in winter or droughted in autumn to prevent more than one or two leaf flushes after the preceding harvest They can also be pruned going into winter to induce flowering directly below the pruning cut There is also the possibility of using ethephon (1...OVERVIEW OF LYCHEE PRODUCTION IN THE ASIAPACIFIC REGION S K Mitra 1 * INTRODUCTION Lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), which originated in southern China and possibly northern Viet Nam belongs to the Sapindaceae family The Sapindaceae is a relatively large family containing at least 125 genera and 1,000 species, which are widely distributed in the tropics and warm sub-tropics The most widely cultivated... absence of this root growth peak in young 'Huaizu' and also bearing trees of 'Nuomici' showed less fruit drop Positive response of spiral girdling was observed in China in speeding up the maturation of autumn flushes and in inhibiting winter flushing in favour of flower initiation, in increasing percentage of pistillate flowers, in overcoming excessive fruit drop and in improving fruit size and quality It... flying foxes amounting up to 50 percent of the crop loss in Australia Fortunately, the lychee growers in other countries of the Asia-Pacific are not facing the problems of flying foxes Protocols exist for control of most of the other pests in different countries There are about 25 species of natural enemies of lychee pests Of these egg parasitoid, Anastatus spp for controlling stink bug, nematode Steinernema... applications have any influence on flowering Girdling Girdling (cincturing) can be used to control the timing of flushes so that they occur when temperatures are ideal for flowering Girdling is performed on the lower part of the tree or major branches and involves removing a ring of bark and the conducting tissue below it, down to the hard wood The ring is cut with a hacksaw, 3 mm wide and deep Girdling stops... tonnes more fresh lychee Except for Australia (exporting about 25-30 percent of the total production) , the other lychee producing countries in this Region are exporting very little (0.2-5.5 percent) of their total production The reasons are mainly that all the producing countries have a good domestic market and lack proper cool-chain and other exporting facilities Small quantities of lychees are, however,... the trunk just above the soil line There was a 3-fold increase in the number of fruit at harvest in Tai So branches girdled at 1.5 m from the fruit cluster compared with controls, and a 35 percent increase in yield in Kwai May Pink and Wai Chee trees girdled in the lower trunk These experiments have shown that girdling can be used to increase production, but further research is required to assess the. .. growers have a business background bringing with them new skills, innovation and off-farm income The production season is long, stretching from October in northern districts to March in southern areas, while the main cultivar, Kwai May Pink is well respected in domestic and export markets The industry also has a long history of grade standards, quality assurance and cooperative marketing There has also... model of flushing against radiation and temperature that was used to predict the optimum time of pruning along the eastern coastline of Australia This model was then validated in commercial orchards The model showed that flushing is slower in the southern, cooler, cloudier areas (e.g Ballina in northern New South Wales) and that pruning must be carried out much earlier than in the northern, warmer, . PRODUCTION IN INDIA 55 by H.P. Singh and S. Babita 8. LYCHEE PRODUCTION IN INDONESIA 78 by M. Winarno 9. LYCHEE PRODUCTION IN NEPAL 81 by Kedar Budathoki 10. LYCHEE PRODUCTION IN THE. important area for lychee production in China. Other provinces where lychee grows well include Guangxi, Fujian, Hainan and Yunnan (Chen and Huang, 2000). In India lychee is grown mainly in the states. LYCHEE PRODUCTION IN THE ASIA- PACIFIC REGION S. K. Mitra * 1. INTRODUCTION Lychee (Litchi chinensis Sonn.), which originated in southern China and possibly northern Viet Nam belongs to the Sapindaceae