Articles
Evaluation of four imported litchi cultivars across two climatic areas in South Africa
Article number
1447_9
Pages
77 – 82
Language
English
Abstract
Nearly a decade ago, 30 litchi cultivars were imported to South Africa from Australia (17) and Israel (13) with the aim of finding suitable cultivars that can be used to extend the harvesting season and add variety to the South African market.
This also increased the genetic diversity within the South African germplasm collection.
The primary evaluation area has been Mbombela in the Mpumalanga Province, characterized by a cool subtropical climate, which has proven to be suitable for most of the imported cultivars.
Several trial sites have since been established in different production regions to determine climatic adaptability.
Each season, fruits from the various cultivars are harvested at full maturity to determine production and fruit quality characteristics, such as yield, fruit size, mass, total soluble sugars (TSS), titratable acid (TA), colour and pulp-to-seed ratio.
In the present contribution, we compared the performance of four cultivars, viz. ‘Souey Tung’, ‘Hung Long’, ‘Goose Egg’, and ‘Shuijingqui’, in the mid-season Mbombela area with the early-season Malelane area.
Preliminary results indicated that the fruit characteristics of the four cultivars are the same across localities.
However, there were differences in fruit size of the same cultivars in different locations.
Despite the difference in fruit sizes in two localities, ‘Goose Egg’ was the overall best performer, with an average fruit mass of 52.42 g and width of 46.28 mm in Mbombela. ‘Shuijingqui’ was the last cultivar to be harvested in both locations. ‘Hung Long’ showed overall good fruit qualities as an early cultivar, and when compared with the early-season cultivar ‘Souey Tung’ which had low fruit size and questionable internal fruit quality.
Further evaluations need to be conducted across seasons to obtain conclusive data on the performance of these cultivars.
This also increased the genetic diversity within the South African germplasm collection.
The primary evaluation area has been Mbombela in the Mpumalanga Province, characterized by a cool subtropical climate, which has proven to be suitable for most of the imported cultivars.
Several trial sites have since been established in different production regions to determine climatic adaptability.
Each season, fruits from the various cultivars are harvested at full maturity to determine production and fruit quality characteristics, such as yield, fruit size, mass, total soluble sugars (TSS), titratable acid (TA), colour and pulp-to-seed ratio.
In the present contribution, we compared the performance of four cultivars, viz. ‘Souey Tung’, ‘Hung Long’, ‘Goose Egg’, and ‘Shuijingqui’, in the mid-season Mbombela area with the early-season Malelane area.
Preliminary results indicated that the fruit characteristics of the four cultivars are the same across localities.
However, there were differences in fruit size of the same cultivars in different locations.
Despite the difference in fruit sizes in two localities, ‘Goose Egg’ was the overall best performer, with an average fruit mass of 52.42 g and width of 46.28 mm in Mbombela. ‘Shuijingqui’ was the last cultivar to be harvested in both locations. ‘Hung Long’ showed overall good fruit qualities as an early cultivar, and when compared with the early-season cultivar ‘Souey Tung’ which had low fruit size and questionable internal fruit quality.
Further evaluations need to be conducted across seasons to obtain conclusive data on the performance of these cultivars.
Authors
A. Mmboyi, R.B. Cronje, E. Hajari
Keywords
adaptability, climate, evaluation, Litchi chinensis Sonn
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