Abstract
Litchi is very fastidious in its climatic requirements. Its cultivation and commercialization globally has therefore been at slow pace due to this stringent requirement. It is observed that there is poor as well as erratic bearing pattern in trees in many important litchi-growing areas. The growth, panicle emergence time, flowering behaviour and flowering phase have been found to be influenced by the impact of climatic change. The productivity/yield and quality fruit production have also been found to be very much affected by environmental parameters like temperature, photoperiod/light intensity, moisture content in the soil and humidity in the atmosphere.
In an era of dynamic climatic changes, there is a strong need for adaptation strategies to be implemented with efficient water-nutrient management, canopy management and integrated pest management (IPM). The present assessment is based on the study carried out at NRC for Litchi, Muzaffarpur, and Bihar where practice of nonselective corrective pruning and reiterative pruning has been adopted for canopy development and enhanced quality production as well as for rebuilding of canopy even in unproductive old senile orchards. Based on this success, proper and timely pruning and training techniques have been standardized for canopy development and influencing microclimate for successfully combating the variable climatic conditions. The resilient adaptation strategies for successful litchi cultivation interalia include use of (1) windbreakers for avoiding damage by heavy windstorm, (2) better root stocks, (3) canopy management, (4) girdling, (5) rejuvenation of old unproductive orchards, (6) mulching and (7) honeybees as potential pollinators. The skilful use of adaptation strategies at appropriate time is the key for successfully overcoming the ill effects of climatic changes.
As litchi has very narrow genetic base, it provides an ideal opportunity for developing climate analogous software, which could be adopted for litchi cultivation in country’s different climatic zones for benefit of the farmers. A start has already been made by developing IT-enabled “frost alert system” software which uses forecast system to mitigate the ill effects in litchi production owing to vagaries of climatic conditions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Boyer JS (1982) Plant productivity and environment. Science 218:443–448
Davenport TL (2000) The processes influencing floral initiation and bloom in litchi; the role of phytohormones in a conceptual flowering model. HortTechnol 10:733–739
Davenport TL (2003) Management of flowering in three tropical and subtropical fruit tree species. HortSci 38:1331–1335
Goren M, Gazit S (1996) Management of lychee orchards in Israel. In: Proceedings of the Fourth National Lychee Seminar, Australian Lychee Growers Association, Yeppoon, pp 74–77
Menzel CM, Simpson DR (1995) Temperatures above 2°C reduce flowering in lychee (Litchi chinensisSonn.). J Hortic Sci 70:981–987
Menzel CM, Waite GK (2005) Litchi and Longan; botany, production and uses. CAB Publishing, Cambridge, MA
Menzel CM, Rasmussen TS, Simpson DR (1989) Effect of temperature and leaf water stress on growth and flowering of litchi (Litchi chinensisSonn.). J Hortic Sci 64:739–752
Olesen T, Menzel CM, Wiltshire N, McConchie CA (2002) Flowering and shoot elongation of lychee in eastern Australia. Aust J Agric Res 53:977–983
Rai M, Nath V, Dey P, Kumar S, Das B (2001) In: CHES (ed) Litchi: genetic resources, production, protection and post-harvest management. ICAR, Ranchi
Sattar A (2010) Agroclimatic profiles of Zone-I of Bihar. Agro-Met. Bulletin. Rajendra Agricultural University, Pusa
Singh A (2009) Environmental control of plant growth. (Book Chapter-11: Fruit physiology and production), pp 160–172
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer India
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kumar, R., Nath, V. (2013). Climate Resilient Adaptation Strategies for Litchi Production. In: Singh, H., Rao, N., Shivashankar, K. (eds) Climate-Resilient Horticulture: Adaptation and Mitigation Strategies. Springer, India. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0974-4_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0974-4_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, India
Print ISBN: 978-81-322-0973-7
Online ISBN: 978-81-322-0974-4
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)