Delaying the Harvesting of Litchi by Using Gibberellic Acid

India is the second largest producer of litchi after China in the world. Indian litchi is highly acceptable in the international market for its good size and quality. Hence quality litchi production is of utmost importance to meet the national as well as global demand. In India, West Bengal is the second largest producer of litchi and the cultivation is mainly based on a single cultivar, 'Bombai'. However, the harvesting period of the fruit is very short (about 10-15 days) in the month of May. The present investigation was carried out to find a strategy for delaying the ripening period of litchi so that the growers could extend the harvesting period and can earn higher return. Treatments included in this study were application of gibberellic acid (GA) at 50, 100 and 200 mg L-1 sprayed on 1 cm panicle; GA at 50 mg L-1 sprayed at 15 days after fruit set (DAFS), at 21 DAFS, at 28 DAFS, three spraying at 15, 21, 28 DAFS and control (water sprays). The results revealed that 6-7 days delay in harvesting is possible when GA at 50 mg L-1 was sprayed at 21 or 28 DAFS. Spraying of GA at 50 mg L-1 at 21 DAFS produced maximum percentage of normal fruits (96.67%) and least burnt (2.88%) and cracked fruits (0.51%) compared to control. The fruit quality characteristics in terms of TSS/TA ratio (71.60) and aril recovery (68.97%) were also markedly improved by the treatment. However, spraying of GA at 100 mg L-1 on 1 cm panicle caused the maximum TSS/acid ratio of fruit (74.58); average fruit weight (24.40 g) and maximum yield (87.7 kg/tree).