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Proceedings and Recommendations

V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan

&

Other Sapindaceae Fruit

st rd 31 May to 3 June, 2016Organized by

Bihar Agricultural UniversitySabour, Bhagalpur -813210 (Bihar)

In Collaboration with ISHS, BelgiumSponsored by

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmV International Symposium on Lychee, Longan & Other Sapindaceae Fruits

Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur-813210 (Bihar)

V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan &

Other Sapindaceae Fruits

st rd31 May to 3 June, 2016

Proceedings and Recommendations

Editors: M. Feza Ahmad, Manoj Kundu, Samik Sengupta

Hidayatullah Mir and Sanjay Sahay

Organized by

Bihar Agricultural University

Sabour, Bhagalpur-813210 (Bihar)

in Collaboration with

ISHS, Belgium

Patron: Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh

Vice Chancellor,

Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar,

India

Convener: Prof. M. Feza Ahmad

Co-conveners: Dr. R.R. Singh

Dr. Sanjay Sahay

Dr. Ruby Rani

Citation: M. Feza Ahmad, Manoj Kundu, Samik Sengupta,

Hidayatullah Mir and Sanjay Sahay. Proceedings and

Recommendations of V International Symposium on Lychee,

Longan & Other Sapindaceae Fruits, Bihar Agricultural

University, Sabour – 813210 (Bhagalpur), Bihar, India

© All Rights ReservedBihar Agricultural UniversitySabour – 813210 (Bhagalpur), Bihar

Published by Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bhagalpur-813210

DISCLAIMER

Recommendations in this publication are based on the presentations made by different scientists

under different technical session of the symposium and the comments of chairman and co-chairman

of each technical session of the symposium and not necessarily that of the organizers.

Printed by

Praveen Enterprises (Fast Print) Press, Khalifabagh, Bhagalpur

E-mail: [email protected]

Printed on August, 2017



Contents

Particulars Page

Foreword

Executive Summary 01 - 03

Inaugural Session 03 - 04

Plenary Lecture 05

Technical Session(s) 06 - 17

Valedictory Session. 18 - 20

Key Recommendations (session wise) 21 - 23

List of Scientific Comities 24 - 25

Photographs 26 - 28



India is the second largest litchi producing country in the world and Bihar is the leading producer state that contributes about 40 percent of the total litchi production in the country. However, low productivity and early postharvest decay limit its availability for a longer period of time and restrict local marketing. In addition to climatic exactness, lack of suitable cultivars for different agro-climatic conditions is the major concern for low yield and productivity of the crop in India. Hence, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour has organized the V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan and other Sapindaceae fruits from May 31- June 03, 2016 in collaboration with International Society for Horticultural Science, Belgium for the first time in India which provide a platform for national and international scientists, policy makers and other stakeholders to discuss these specific issues along with various other aspects such as collection, conservation and exploitation of germplasm by different countries, improvement on yield and quality, extension of shelf life through breeding and biotechnological tools etc. I believe this symposium has provided to all scientists and producers of litchi, longan, rambutan and other sapindaceae fruits with an excellent opportunity to get together and share their accomplishment, ideas, expertise and experiences. I understand that the participants have also got an opportunity to explore the litchi industry of the world. This publication has summarized technical presentation of researchers as well as recommendations for large benefits of scientific communities, farmers and litchi entrepreneurs. Further, the efforts of authors are highly appreciated for their valuable suggestions for making the proceeding useful to the stakeholders. I also appreciate the editors for sincere endeavour in bringing out such publication.

F o r ewo rd

AJOY KUMAR SINGH

BIHAR AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY, SABOUR

Dr. Ajoy Kumar SinghVice Chancellor

BHAGALPUR-813210 (BIHAR)

Phone : 0641-2452606 (O)

: 0641-2452605 (R)

Fax : 0641-2452604

Patna : 0612-2222267 (O)

Fax : 0612-2225364

Mob. No. : +91-8902750693

URL : www.bausabour.ac.in

(Ajoy Kumar Singh)

Executive Summary

1

Litchi is one of the important fruits in the world with several exotic qualities and specific climatic requirement. India is the second largest litchi producing country in the world having an annual average production of 585 thousand metric tonne from 84 thousand hectare area. Bihar is the leading state producing about 40 percent of the total litchi production of the country. However, low yield and early postharvest decay limit its availability for a longer period of time. In addition to climatic exactness, lack of suitable cultivars for different agro-climatic conditions is the major concern for low yield and productivity of the crop in India. Furthermore, improvement of fruit quality is another important issue for exporting Indian litchi to foreign countries. Hence, an international symposium was organised with national and international delegates to provide a common platform to scientists, policy makers and other stakeholders to discuss these specific issues such as collection, conservation and exploitation of germplasm by different countries, improvement on yield and quality, extension of shelf life through the implementation of different breeding and biotechnological tools etc.

Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour organized the V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan and other Sapindaceae fruits from May 31 - June 03, 2016 in collaboration with International Society for Horticultural Science, Belgium. The symposium was supported by Science and Engineering Research Board (Department of Science & Technology), New Delhi; NABARD, Patna; BAMETI, Patna; NHB, Gurgaon; NHM, Patna. A total of eight (8) foreign researchers from various part of the world viz. China, Mauritius, South Africa, United Kingdom and 137 national researchers from Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal participated in the symposium. Padam Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha, President, The Horticultural Society of India, New Delhi; Dr. A.K Singh, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, BAU, Sabour; Dr. Regina B. Cronje, ARC- ITSC, Nelspruit, South Africa; Dr. W.S Dhillon, Professor (Horticulture), PAU, Ludhiana and former ADG (Hortiulture), ICAR, New Delhi; Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, NRC, Litchi, Muzaffarpur; Dr. B.C. Saha, DRI-cum-Dean PGS, BAU, Sabour graced the inaugural function of the symposium. During welcome address, Prof. M. Feza Ahmad, Convenor of the symposium, emphasized upon the various aspects of sapindaceae fruits cultivation including biodiversity, genetic resources, breeding through conventional and biotechnological approaches, quality and shelf life improvement through the culmination of physiological, biochemical and nano-technological tools to catch the domestic as well as the export market. The chief guest of the symposium, Padam Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha emphasized the important aspects such as germplasm conservation, processing of litchi and other sapindaceae fruits, promotion of non-conventional sapindaceae fruits like longan and rambutan etc. Further, he also presented the export potential of the sapindaceae fruits. In presidential address, Dr. A.K. Singh,

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V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan & Other Sapindaceae Fruits


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Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, BAU, Sabour, pointed out the impact of climate change on fruit production and quality as well as improvement of shelf life of litchi and other crops of sapindaceae family. Dr. Regina B. Cronje presented the activities of International Society for Horticultural Science, Belgium throughout the world. Dr. W.S. Dhillon emphasised the importance of fruit crops in promoting nutritional security and its contribution in the national economy. Dr. Vishal Nath explained the role of National Research Centre on Litchi in holistic improvement of litchi production and advancements in research on the impact of canopy management and precision input management interventions in physiological systems of litchi plants. The inaugural session concluded with the vote of thanks by Dr. B.C. Saha, DRI-cum Dean PGS, BAU, Sabour.

Thereafter, Padam Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha delivered a plenary lecture on Fruit crop improvement: achievement and future priority. During the lecture, he pointed out constrains and methods of fruit crop improvement programme including biodiversity conservation, identification of suitable area for different fruit crops and commercialization of new crops such as longan, rumbutan, pulasan, kiwi fruit, passion fruits, oil palm etc.

Later on, eight different technical sessions continued for the entire four days. Outline of technical session-I was to emphasize the mutation and other breeding methods to increase the variability in litchi. In this session, it was also pointed out that the cultivation of litchi in non-traditional areas like Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh should be done in near future to make the fruits available in December-January also. Technical session II came up with the conclusion of conservation and exploitation of diverse germplasms of sapindaceae family at all the litchi research centres to make them useful in varietal improvement programme. In technical session III, researchers were advised to recommend fertilizer schedule as par the need of variety. The patch budding was recommended as an alternative of air layering (technical session IV). This technical session came up with the conclusion that patch budding had more than 70 percent success rate in litchi when it is done in August with high relative humidity. In technical session V, researchers were advised to standardize the concentration of different plant growth regulators for specific purpose at specific location. During technical session VI, it was advised to give more emphasis on blight, wilt & fungal rot diseases along with the most important problem of pericarp browning in future research programme. Technical session VII was concluded with the idea of adaptation of pre-cooling facility and cold chain management system for maintaining fruit quality and to increase shelf life of fruits during storage and transportation. Technical session VIII ended with the conclusion of adaptation of litchi based integrated farming system to improve the socio-economic status of the litchi growers throughout the world.

ndApart from the technical session, on the 2 day of the symposium, a field visit to the major litchi growing area, adjoining to BAU, Sabour campus was organized. During this tour, scientists and the experts from different part of the world interacted with the litchi growers regarding different issues related to litchi cultivation. On the last day of the

symposium, a farmers-scientist interaction was also organised to discuss the relevant issues of litchi growers of the state which was followed by the valedictory function of the symposium.

The valedictory programme was chaired by the Chief Guest, Shri Vijay Prakash, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Govt. of Bihar in the presence of Dr. H.P. Singh, Former Dy. Director General, ICAR, New Delhi; Dr. G. Trivedi, Former Vice Chancellor, RAU, Pusa; Dr. Regina B. Cronje, Scientist, Agricultural Research Council, Institute of Tropical and Subtropical Crops, Nelspruit, South Africa; Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, BAU, Sabour and Mr. Edward Grantham, progressive farmer from South Africa. The Chief Guest, Shri Vijay Prakash told that Bihar is very fortunate to lead Litchi production in the country as the crop has great potentiality to change the economic condition of state. While discussing the export potential of Indian litchi, he stressed on the importance of cold chain facility. He also mentioned that it is an important challenge for the scientists to increase the shelf life of the litchi fruit as it has great impact on export market. Further, he emphasized on grading and packaging technique and informed that Govt. of Bihar is working in this aspect in collaboration with APEDA, New Delhi to increase the export potentiality. Besides, he also suggested litchi growers to adopt the technology of litchi based honey production as it is one of the remunerative businesses. At the end of symposium, Mr. Sammer Muhamed, student of Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur and Ms. Pushpa Kumari, student of Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour were awarded with best oral and poster presentation award, respectively. The programme was concluded with vote of thanks by Prof. M. Feza Ahmad, Convener, V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan & Other Sapindaceae Fruits.

Inaugural Session




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The V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan and other Sapindaceae fruits st

was inaugurated at Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour on 31 May, 2016. The dignitaries present on the dais were Padam Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha, President, The Horticultural Society of India, New Delhi; Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, BAU, Sabour; Dr. Regina B. Cronje, ARC-ITSC, Nelspruit, South Africa; Dr. W.S. Dhillon, Professor (Horticulture), PAU, Ludhiana and former ADG, ICAR, New Delhi; Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, NRC, Litchi, Muzaffarpur; Dr. B.C. Saha, DRI-cum-Dean PGS, BAU, Sabour and Dr. M. Feza Ahmad, convener of the symposium. The welcome address was delivered by Prof. M. Feza Ahmad. During deliberation, he remarked that this four days symposium will deal with important aspects of world production and trade scenario; biodiversity, genetic resources and breeding of sapindaceae fruits; crop improvement through biotechnological approaches as well as their quality and shelf-life improvement through the culmination of physiological, biochemical and

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nanotechnological tools; propagation and orchard management for production improvement vis-a-vis the use of plant growth regulators for flower induction, fruit yield and quality of sapindaceae fruits. The physiological disorders, diseases, insect-pests management, postharvest biology, processing, marketing and export were the other agenda for promotion of fruit crops. Further, he also added that the impact of litchi cultivation on the socio-economic status of the farmers and other relevant issues will also be discussed at length during the symposium. Foreign delegates from various countries like China, South Africa, United Kingdom, Mauritious etc. and national researchers from different part of the country viz. Bihar, Delhi, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal participated in the symposium. The chief guest of the symposium, Padam Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha discussed the important aspects like germplasm conservation, processing of litchi and other sapindaceous fruits, promotion of non-conventional sapindaceous fruits like Longan and Rambutan in differet part of the world. Further, he also informed the house regarding the export potential of Indian litchi. He remarked that Bihar is very fortunate to have both the king and queen of fruit, i.e. mango and litchi respectively. In his presidential remarks, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor of the university, Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh pointed out the impact of climate change on fruit production and quality of the fruits. He also showed his concern on the improvement of shelf-life of litchi and other fruits. Further, he emphasized on human resource development for quality litchi production in the state. Dr. Regina B. Cronje presented the activities of International Society for Horticultural Science, Belgium throughout the world while Dr. W.S Dhillon focused his remarks on the importance of fruit crops for nutritional security and its contribution in the national economy. Dr. Vishal Nath explained the role of National Research Centre on Litchi in holistic improvement of litchi production in the country. Further, he also added that the scientists should focus their research on the impact of canopy management and precise input management interventions on the physiology of the litchi plants as these two aspect has immense potentiality to increase the yield and productivity of the crops in near future. Finally the inaugural session ended with the vote of thanks from Dr. B.C Saha.

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Chairman: Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh, Vice Chancellor, BAU, SabourCo-chairman: Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, National Research Centre on Litchi, MuzaffarpurSpeaker: Padma Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha, President, The Horticultural Society of India, New Delhi

Title of Presentation: Fruit Crop Improvement: Achievement and Future Priority

Padma Shree, Dr. K.L. Chadha delivered a plenary lecture on the topic “Fruit crop Improvement-Achievements and Future strategy”. The session was chaired by Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, BAU, Sabour and Co-chaired by Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, National Research Centre on Litchi, Muzaffarpur. In his lecture, Dr. Chadha mentioned the irrevocable contribution of Thomas Andrew Knight (1849-1926) in the field of fruit breeding. He presented the immense contribution of the scientists in fruit breeding from 1905 onwards in India and pointed out the various constraints of fruit improvement programmes. He highlighted the importance of biodiversity conservation as an essential tool for litchi breeding in the country. Further, he mentioned that the identification of suitable area according to the soil and climatic requirement for a particular is very essential before planting the sapling of the crop in that area. In addition, he also discussed the scope for commercialization of new crops like kiwi fruit, passion fruits, oil palm in addition to longan, pulasan, rumbutan; in vitro propagation for mass multiplication of fruit crops, hybridization and selection programme for crop improvement and mutation and ploidy breeding to increase the variability to existing germplasm, breeding for improving fruit quality like TSS, TSS: acid ration, vitamins and antioxidant content, seedlessness; improvement for abiotic and biotic stress tolerance; development of suitable tree architecture to make the farm mechanization process easy in the orchard etc. He emphasized to give priority in future research on salt tolerance breeding, production of haploid and double haploid in fruit crops to make the breeding cycle short and also to next generation sequencing techniques. He stressed on marker assisted breeding programme in which markers on different traits is available readily. He mentioned that the responsibility of work should be given on the capability in terms of human resource and infrastructure facility. He also added that reorientation of the PG course curriculum of the respective discipline is the urgent need for improving the fruit breeding programme throughout the country.




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Plenary Lecture

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Proceedings of Technical Session

Technical Session I World Production and Trade Scenario

Chairman: Padma Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha, President, The Horticultural Society of India, New DelhiCo-chairman: Dr. V.B. Patel, University Professor (Horticulture), BAU, SabourRapporteurs: Dr. Ruby Rani & Dr. Shirin Akhtar, BAU, Sabour

In this session three presentations were delivered. The first speaker was Dr. Vishal Nath from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur who presented the status, challenges and opportunities of litchi production in India. He informed the house that southern India, particularly Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have immense potentiality for growing litchi especially during offseason and their team has already identified these regions as the non-traditional areas for this luscious fruit. He also spoke about the expanding ding of new plantations of litchi in the coming season in different parts of Eastern and Western UP and some parts of Punjab and Bihar. Further, he mentioned that although India is the second largest litchi producing country, the average national productivity of the crop is only 6.9 tonne/ha. However, with proper management the productivity can be increased up to 20-25 tonne/ha. He projected the target of average per capita litchi consumption of 1 kg/person/year by 2050 from present 460 g/person/year consumption. Dr. Vishal Nath also spoke about the new selections of NRC-litchi and discussed the major constraints of Indian litchi such as narrow genetic base, short period of availability, poor shelf life, post harvest losses, unavailability of quality planting material, shy bearing habit of leading cultivars, sunburn problem of litchi fruit etc. He urged the entire litchi growing communities to adopt the rejuvenation technique to convert the old senile litchi orchards into newer ones. Further, he mentioned that establishment of orchards in unsuitable geographical location, poor orchard planning, improper orchard management practices, lack of awareness about scientific pest and disease management, unscientific post harvest management, lack of market intelligence, poor transportation infrastructure and climate change are posing threats to litchi industry in India. Hence, spreading of scientific knowledge among the litchi growers regarding systematic litchi cultivation technique is the urgent need of the hour. In addition, he explained different standardised techniques for orchard rejuvenation, off season production, nursery management, plant propagation, canopy architecture management, girdling, mycorrhizal and biofertilizer application, micro-irrigation, use of bio-control agent to prevent the infestation of litchi borer. Apart from these, to minimize the problem of cracking and fruit borer attack, he mentioned the importance of bunch bagging




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with polypropylene bags. Regarding litchi based intercropping system, he suggested grower to cultivate fruit crops like banana and guava; vegetables like okra and cowpea; flowers like gladiolus as the intercrops. The next speaker was Dr. Regina B. Cronje from ARC, South Africa presented the status of litchi production and research in South Africa. She mentioned that the Southern hemisphere produced only a mere 4 percent of world's litchi and South Africa is a minor litchi producer after Mauritius and Brazil. She listed out the major litchi cultivars grown in South Africa. While discussing the litchi breeding programme of ARC, South Africa, she explained that the climate constraint, irregular bearing, low fruit set, heat wave, sunburn, infestation of pests like fruit flies, litchi false cuddling moth, nematode, stem borer, tip wilter, scale insects and diseases like dieback are the major constraints of litchi improvement programme in South Africa. She also briefed the research and developmental activities of litchi industry in South Africa aimed at increasing the yield and productivity of the crop in the country. She also added that the adaptation of proper orchard management practices, extending production season through breeding and importing new cultivars, improving post harvest management practices, establishment of local market, accessing new international market, especially in USA, Asia and Middle East countries are some of the significant achievement of South African litchi industry. However, she expressed concerns over the declining trend in litchi production in South Africa due to severe heat wave and replacement of litchi plantations with macadamia plantations and exponential increase in litchi price. Thereafter, Dr. G. Karunakaran from CHES, Hirehalli, IIHR presented his lecture on the topic “Potential edible fruits of Sapindaceae, future crops in waiting, emerging niche markets, associated challenges and perspectives”. He pointed out the advantages of climatic diversity of India for growing wide range of fruit crops, particularly fruits of Sapindaceae family such as longan, rambutan and pulasan. He mentioned that the agro-climatic condition prevailing in Kerala, parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh are highly suitable for the cultivation of these fruit crops. Inspite of having lots of problems associated with their commercial cultivation like climatic extremities, fruit drop, improper pollination, bird attack etc, the southern coastal region of India gaining popularity for commercial cultivation. The growing demand for these fruits in metros has encouraging the farming communities to cultivate these crops on commercial scale. Further, he mentioned that the establishment of proper sales outlets for fresh fruits is the urgent need in the country to avoid the problem of huge postharvest losses. However, regarding the potentiality of rumbutan in Bihar, it was

0concluded that high diagonal variation in temperature (0 to 40 C) would hamper the commercial production, since it is highly tropical in nature and very specific to its climatic requirements




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Technical Session II Biodiversity, Genetic Resource and Breeding

Chairman: Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, NRC Litchi, Muzaffarpur, IndiaCo-chairman: Dr. Rajesh Kumar, Associate Dean cum Principal, BPSAC, PurneaRapporteurs: Dr. Deepti Singh & Dr. Manoj Kundu, BAU, Sabour

Four research papers were presented under this technical session. The first lecture was given by Mrs. Yogeeta Devi Luchoomun on “Evaluation of litchi cultivars in Mauritius”. This lecture was important as fruit breeding was suggested to be included in course curriculum. In her lecture, she talked about the evaluation of seven new litchi cultivars in Mauritius and found that under the changing scenario of climate change, cultivar Yook Ho Pow and Tai So are very promising in terms of consistent flowering and desirable quality attributes like high TSS and pulp seed ratio. Beside this, the speaker also identified the early and late varieties of litchi in terms of industrial sustainability of litchi in Mauritius. Thereafter, R. Senthil Kumar from IIHR-CHES, Chettalli, Karnataka delivered his presentation on “Genetic resources of Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) in India”. He mentioned that rambutan is one of the important fruit of humid tropics of South East Asia and south India is the hub of diverse germplasm of rambutan. Hence, there is a huge scope to popularize the cultivation of the underutilized fruit crops in the entire tropical humid belt of south India. While working with the diverse germplasm, he identified two promising lines of rumbutan namely, CHES R- XV/7 and CHES R-XV/9. Both the lines are high yielders with stone free fruits having high TSS. Beside this, the speaker also informed the house regarding the release of two rumbutan varieties by IIHR, Bangalore namely Arka Coorg Arun (regular bearer) and Arka Coorg Peetabh (yellow fleshed). The next speaker, Dr. B.R. Jana from ICAR-RCER research Centre, Darbhanga delivered presentation on “Performance of late season cultivars of litchi grown in Jharkhand province of India”. During the presentation, he told that the early and mid season litchi cultivars of Jharkhand are prone to fruit cracking and diseases. Therefore, he conducted the experiment to study the performance of late season litchi varieties particularly for different quantitative traits as well as for export purposes. Finally he concluded that the late season cultivars such as Large Red, Swarnaroopa and Purbi were found to be promising lines against fruit cracking, whereas Lal Bombaiya has good export potential as it possesses attractive red colour with maximum TSS and aril weight. His presentation was followed by the presentation of Mr. S. Muhamed, a PG student of KAU, Thrissur, Kerala. He delivered presentation on “Elite selection of Rambutan (Nephelium lappaceum L.) for different economic attributes from Kerala”. During the presentation, he mentioned that due to the occurrence of natural cross pollination, rambutan has large




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genetic variability which could provide a great scope for selecting superior varieties with good market potential. In his study, he evaluated the sensory character of ten collections of rambutan. Out of these, Col.023 and Col.042 were found to be promising in terms of high aril percentage while Col.053 and Col.061were having high TSS and Col.015 was having high vitamin C content. During discussion, Dr. Vinod Kumar, Biotecnologist, BAU, Sabour suggested the scientists associated with litchi to take initiative for oil extraction from litchi seeds since seeds are the major waste materials of litchi fruit and till date no studies has been conducted in this regard. Dr. Vishal Nath, chairman of the session replied that the seed has high calorific value and used as poultry feed. Further, Dr. Vinod Kumar raised the question about the progress made in gene sequencing of litchi in India. Dr. Nath replied that the work is underway and the results are awaited. Finally the session concluded with the suggestion that since litchi is an alternate bearer and the fruit weight of litchi is very low (20 g), future research work should consider these two aspects. Moreover, the sapindaceae family has diverse germplasm in India, particularly in Southern India, hence, it is the urgent need to conserve the diverse germplasm in different research centre to harness it for efficient selection as well as to make them available for further improvement programme.

Technical Session IIIPhysiology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology

Chairman: Dr. J.B. Tomar, Director Research, BAU, SabourCo-chairperson: Dr. Regina Cronje, ARC – ITSC, South AfricaRapporteurs: Dr. Chandan Roy & Dr. Tushar Ranjan, BAU, Sabour

Dr. Feza Ahmed delivered presentation on “Mineral nutrient content in litchi at different stages of fruit development process”. He presentation, he explained how fertilizer application is correlated with the yield of plants and nutrient uptake at different stages of fruit development. He mentioned that the fertigation should be scheduled in litchi before hardening of seed. Based on the research findings, he concluded that the fertilizer recommendation should be specific to variety. Further, he added that the application of Fe and Mg must be done during marble stage. Dr. Bikas Das, Senior Scientist, ICAR-RCER Research Centre, Ranchi described the experiment on plant growth relationship with respect to assimilate accumulation through partitioning of assimilate into different parts of litchi fruits (cv. Shahi). He mentioned that the application of sufficient amount of fertilizers after emergence of first flush of litchi is critical for yield. After 60 days of flowering, sharp increase in carbohydrate in fruits was recorded and he explained that the plant used the stored assimilate along with currently synthesized assimilates for proper growth and development of fruit as well as for the improvement of




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fruit quality. He stated that stored assimilates are more important for plant during fruit development period as compared to current assimilates in litchi. Chairman of the session, showed his concern about the practical feasibility of fertigation based on yield and variety. Director, NRC on Litchi suggested the growers to apply first basal dose of fertilizer just after harvesting and pruning and second application during stone hardening stage. Chairman concluded that the delayed application of 25 percent of total recommended dose of fertilizer by 10 days from the normal time after fruit setting and next 25 percent at fruit development stage is more fruitful for increasing the yield and productivity of litchi in the country.

Technical Session IV Propagation and Orchard Management

Chairman: Dr. L.I. Dong-Bo, Guangxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, ChinaCo-Chair: Dr. U.S. Jaiswal, Associate Dean cum Principal, VKSCOA, Dumraon, BuxerRapporteurs: Dr. Anshuman Kohli & Dr. Shashi Kala, BAU, Sabour

A total of five topics were presented under this technical session. The first presentation was made by Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, NRC, Litchi, Muzaffarpur on the topic “Plant Canopy Architecture Management in Litchi”. He emphasized that in litchi, development of proper tree canopy architecture is very important as the crop requires sufficient light and air for better yield and quality. The growth behaviour, flushing pattern and bearing behaviour are highly influenced by the canopy architecture. Canopy management aimed to produce strong frame of limbs, wider crotches in scaffold branches, healthy and

rd thwell distributed 3 and 4 order branches. He enumerated the importance of canopy architecture management in light of improving aeration, light penetration, photosynthetic efficiency, controlling plant structure along with improvement of fruit colour, quality and yield. Further, he highlighted the steps of canopy management include selection of dwarf cultivars, appropriate planting system, use of dwarfing root stocks and interstocks, initial frame development and training of the plants at initial stage of plant growth with open centre system of training. The development of tree frame involves scaffold branches, secondary branches, tertiary branches and the fruiting terminals. He also mentioned that the planting systems and the spacing between plants play important role for developing proper canopy architechture. He illustrated the presentation with data on litchi variety Shahi under various planting systems and reiterated the concept of 'Harvest Sunlight Efficiently' and 'Limit Canopy Depth'. Further, he pointed out that the pruning of shoots should be done just after harvesting and it is necessary to restrict the plant spread and also to induce healthy shoots for the next year fruiting Dr. B.C. Saha requested the speaker to explain the techniques of measuring the root-




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shoot ratio precisely. The speaker replied that it can be very precisely ascertained if measurements are taken through radio trace techniques. Thereafter, the speaker was also asked about the impact of root pruning technique to increase the yield and quality of litchi as well as the ideal root-shoot ratio in litchi. The speaker replied that this type of study is still not been worked out at their centre. The next presentation was made by Mr Manoj Kumar on “Yield and fruit quality of litchi under the influence of organic and inorganic nutrient management practices”. He started presentation with the current litchi production scenario in Bihar. He explained that organic production is envisaged for better quality of fruits that are free from pesticide residues. He also stated that this technique will help the farmer to get better returns in near future. The third presentation was delivered by Dr. B.B. Mishra, Associate Dean cum Principal, BAC, Sabour on “Soil site suitability for litchi growing areas in some selected soil series of Bhagalpur district of Bihar”. He projected that although soil is the foundation for litchi cultivation, a scientific approach for selecting proper soil for litchi cultivation is lacking. A systematic knowledge of soil/land would surely be a reliable answer for proper selection of suitable soil for the same. He stated that the soil having bulk density less than

31.25 mg/m are more suitable for litchi cultivation. Further, he added that the quality of litchi in areas north to Ganges is better than that of south Bihar, due to high bulk density, low organic carbon, hard consistency, high pH and ESP, nutrient deficiencies in the soil of south Bihar. He also showed his concern to develop the remedial measures for these constraints and make them available among the litchi growers. He also appraised the audience about the deficiency of Zn, Fe and Cu observed in the litchi trees and proposed the systematic activities for the purpose involving soil evaluation and productivity identification, improvement of identified limitations, delineating the suitability of soils for litchi cultivation, soil fertility evaluation for litchi orchards, manure and fertilizer recommendations with special care to specific nutrients/ micronutrients and interventions of soil biotechnology as well as biodiversity to enrich the quality of litchi in a big way. The next presentation was made by Dr. Prahlad Deb on “Fruit set and early fruit development of Litchi (cv. Bombai) influenced by foliar application of Zinc”. He stated that Zinc is required for the reproductive growth of plants. He concluded that foliar application of zinc has great effect on fruit set and fruit development of litchi and ZnSO @ 0.75 percent at 4

pre flowering, flowering and fruit set is effective to increase the yield and quality of the fruit.The last presentation of the session on “Patch budding: a sustainable method of propagation in Litchi” was delivered by Dr. S.V. George from Homegrown biotech., Kerela. He pointed out that although air layering is the widely used propagation method of litchi throughout the country, but patch budding under high humid condition in the month of august performed better with a success rate of about 70 percent and this method can be adopted as the alternative of air layering for mass multiplication of litchi.




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Technical Session VPlant Growth Regulators in Litchi Production

Chairman: Dr. B.C. Saha, DRI-cum-Dean PGS, BAU, SabourCo-chairman: Dr. R.R. Singh, Assoc. Professor (Horticulture), BAU, SabourRapporteurs: Dr. Chandan Roy & Dr. S.S. Mehdi, BAU, Sabour

The first presentation was delivered by Dr. R. Cronje, ARC- ITSC, Nelspruit, South Africa on “Effect of full-cover ethaphon applications on flowering and yield of Mauritius litchi in South Africa”. She described the technique of full-cover ethephon application on litchi tree and reported that the application of 1000 ppm ethaphon in mid April is beneficial for expanding dormancy and helps in suppression of new growth on plants up to 4-6 weeks which ultimately increases the yield. Dr. Amrendra Kumar from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur presented experimental findings of “Response of growth regulators on flower induction, fruit yield and quality of litchi cv. Shahi”. He found that ethephon application @ 100 ppm and 500 ppm reduced twig length and resulted in higher panicle emergence. Thereafter, Dr. Munishwar Prasad from BAU, Sabour presented his finding on “Effect of foliar applications of PGR and different potassium forms on sex expression, fruit setting, yield and fruit quality in litchi cv. Mandraji” and reported that the application of KNO is highly effective for increasing the femaleness in litchi.3

While delivering his presentation on the topic “Production of high quality fruits of rambutan through the use of Napthalene Acetic Acid (NAA)”, Dr. Nithin Alex from Homegrown biotech., Kerela reported that the application of NAA @ 20 ppm should be done when the stigma has started to burst as it helps in converting hermaphrodite flowers into male ones which ultimately result in better pollination and improved fruit setting. Through a video film, he illustrated the India's first Rambutan garden, established at Kerala. Further, he also demonstrated the popularity of that garden as well as the marketing of rambutan fruits of that garden to local market. Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, NRC, Litchi suggested that farmers should be cautious about the doses of ethaphon and the scientists should always recommend only the chemicals which are readily available in the market.




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Technical Session VIDisorders, Diseases and Insect-Pests Management

Chairman: Dr. J.B. Tomar, Director Research, BAU, SabourCo-Chairmen: Dr. M. Feza Ahmad, Chairman, Department of Horticulture (Fruit & Fruit

Technology), BAU, SabourRapporteurs: Dr. Anil and Mrs. Kasturikasen Beura, BAU, Sabour

This session started with the presentation on “Cracking of lychee fruits: responsible factors and control”, delivered by Dr. Debasis Mandal from Mizoram University, Aizwal, Mizoram, India. While presentation, he stated that the varietal differences, fruiting in south direction and upper portion of the plant canopy, increased fruit pressure, calcium content in aril and peel, soil moisture content and abiotic stresses are the major factors which play an important role in fruit cracking in litchi. From the experimental findings, he reported that besides the application of GA and boron, the sprinkler and drip irrigation effectively reduced the fruit cracking in litchi. Further, he also proposed that 50 per cent shade resulted in no fruit cracking. Dr Mandal advocated that Indian litchi is distinct in its colour and taste and has the potentiality to compete in the European market because of the different harvesting season. Dr. S.K. Purbey from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India delivered presentation on the topic “Physiological disorders in litchi and their management”. He addressed the problems of flower and fruit drop, fruit cracking, sunburn and pericarp browning in litchi as well as their management. Experimental findings of Dr. Purbey revealed that the foliar spray of boron and NAA was significantly reduced the problem of flower and fruit drop; however, retention of proper soil moisture and the application of boron was highly effective for reducing the problem of fruit cracking. Further, he mentioned that the bagging of fruits with polypropylene bags was found quite effective in reducing the sunburn and fruit cracking while the treatment of fruits with sulphur dioxide just after harvesting was helpful in preventing the pericarp browning problem. Dr. W.S. Dhillon suggested the sucrose spray for managing fruit drop problem. Dr Vinod Kumar from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India presented his research finding on “Diseases in litchi and their management”. He mentioned about the various diseases of litchi such as leaf, panicle/inflorescence and fruit blight, twig blight, leaf spot, anthracnose, downy mildew, algal leaf spots, wilt and fruit rot or fruit decay and also their management strategies. Further he informed that three diseases namely blight, wilt and fruit rot are the most important diseases of litchi in India. Keeping in view, the resemblance of the symptoms of leaf blight with potassium deficiency, he suggested for analysis of the potassium content in the leaves, showing such symptoms. Dr. Kuldeep Srivastava from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India delivered his presentation on the topic “Options of pest management in litchi”. During presentation, he




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discussed the important insect and pest affecting litchi crop in India and their management. The last presentation of session was delivered by Dr. Amarendra Kumar from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India on “Litchi based cropping in pond-based production system”. He discussed the outcomes of various field and fruit crops in pond-based litchi cropping system. Chairman of the session concluded that genetic factors play an important role in occurance of physiological disorders including fruit cracking. Hence, the study on the response of different litchi varieties with abiotic factors is the urgent need of the hour. The works on introduction of resistance source for different biotic and abiotic stress from the centre of origin of litchi, widening of the gene pool, hybrid and inbred development, identification of genotypes for changing climate, characterization of new strains or biotypes of pests should also be done in the near future. He also suggested that correlation studies should be undertaken in future between the genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of the plants with yield potentiality. The Co-chairman of session suggested that the experiment on the effect of irrigation and organic matter to reduce fruit cracking in litchi must be conducted. Further, he added that the bagging of the fruits is the need of hour for reducing sunburn problem. The session ended with the words of appreciation by the co-chairman to the speakers.

Technical Session VIIPostharvest Biology and Technology, Processing, Marketing & Export

Chairman: Dr. W.S. Dhillon, Professor (Horticulture), PAU and Ex-ADG, ICAR, New DelhiCo-chairman: Dr. S.K. Purbey, Principal Scientist, NRC on Litchi, MuzaffarpurRapporteurs: Dr. Wasim Siddique & Dr. Shmasher Ahmad, BAU, Sabour

A research paper entitled “Quality retention and postharvest handling of litchi fruits” was presented by Dr. W.S. Dhillon. He pointed out that litchi is highly perishable fruit and 25-40 percent of total produce is lost every year before reaching the consumers. He mentioned several factors responsible for this loss and emphasized that the most important factor is decay, desiccation and pericarp browning. Fruit quality plays an important role in storage and export. Many factors govern fruit quality and among them maturity is a critical factor for maintaining quality. Dr. Dhillon informed the house about the maturity parameters and told that flattening of fruit skin segments is the only non-destructive, reliable method of determining maturity of litchi. He informed that shade net and fruit bagging give uniform maturity and good quality. 30 percent & 50 percent green shade net also increases harvesting period by 16 days. Bagging also protects the fruits from sunburn and cracking. Fruit




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harvesting is difficult in litchi and should not be harvested in rainy season. Litchi is a non climacteric fruit but respiration rate decreases on first day after harvesting and then increases. Dr. Dhillon emphasized on use of smaller packages (2kg) for packing litchi fruits. He informed that packaging in India is done by two ways one with leaves and fruit stalk and second one with only fruits. The LDPE, PP, HDPE bags can be used for modified atmospheric packaging. Like other fruits, precooling in litchi is an important operation for maintaining quality during storage and transportation. Litchi can be precooled by forced-air and hydro-cooling technique. Further, he informed that pericarp browning in litchi occurs when moisture loss exceeds 50 percent. Sulphur fumigation (sulphuring) is used in many countries to reduce pericarp browning on commercial scale. However, sulphuring is not acceptable to many countries. Some fungicides especially thiobendazole is used to control decay. Irradiation and heat treatment can also be used to increase shelflife and maintaining quality. CFB boxes are good for storage and transportation. He stated that transportation of fruits in Asian countries is highly unsatisfactory due to poor condition of roads and non availability of refrigerated vans. He also mentioned that MAP is superior technology for future storage. Litchi is tolerant to chilling injury but cannot be stored below freezing point.

0The best temperature for storage of litchi is 1-5 C with 80-90 percent humidity. Therefore, for longe term storage, cold chain management is the need of the hour. The second presentation was delivered by Dr. S.K. Purbey from NRC, Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar on “Smart practices to manage postharvest quality and losses in litchi”. During his deliberation he mainly focused on value chain and marketing of litchi. He mentioned that no pack house concept exists in India although it is the most important tool for maintaining quality of the fruits. He informed the house that maximum postharvest losses occur at wholesale level and pericarp browning is the major issue throughout the world which is mainly caused by desiccation and micro cracking. Mechanization in harvesting and hydro cooling is extensively used in other countries; however, these practices are yet to start in India. Further, he stated that harvesting time is very important for maintaining fruit quality and told that 4 AM -8 AM is the best time for harvesting. Dr. Purvey also emphasized on the importance of cold chain management which is the only option for maintaining fruit quality. Apart from these, bio-control agents and fungicides also help to maintain quality of fruits. Dr. Tanweer Alam, Joint director, IIP, Delhi delivered his presentation on “Advances in litchi packaging”. He pointed out that packaging is one of the most important sectors in litchi industry. He discussed the basic packaging requirements for fruits in general and litchi for particular. He stressed out different injuries during transportation and told that CFB boxes are the best packing boxes for litchi as it posses shock absorbing properties. Height and orientation of box is also important to minimize bruising. The MAP, EMAP, active and smart packaging requires extensive research before their implementation at commercial level. Dr. Alam informed the house that packaging materials should have the basic properties of air circulation, sufficient mechanical strength, stackability and temperature stability.




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Thereafter, Dr. M.K. Wadhwani, Chairman, Deptt. of Agricultural Economics, BAU, Sabour delivered presentation on “Marketing of Litchi in Bihar State: A constraint analysis”. He discussed the basic objective of an efficient marketing system i.e. to ensure remunerative price to growers and reasonable rate for consumers. He also discussed area, production and productivity of litchi in different zones of Bihar and informed the house that marketing of litchi is difficult due to limited shelflife of the fruit. He elaborated the major constraints faced by growers during marketing and mentioned that growers rarely use scientific methods of postharvest handling. Mr. Parag Pandit from Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat, India discussed his research work on “Effect of Ozonized reverse osmosis plant water washing on microbial load of litchi”. He mention that ozone (O ) is unstable and dissociates into O and O 3 2

(nascent oxygen). This nascent oxygen is very strong sterilizing agent and very helpful to control the microbial load of litchi. His presentation was followed by the presentation on the overview of litchi research in BAU, Sabour, presented by Dr. Ruby Rani. She informed house that the first hybrid in litchi was developed by BAU, Sabour. In continuation, she also presented a research paper on “Effect of pre cooling and low temperature storage on postharvest life of litchi fruits” and reported that no spoilage was noticed on the fruit after 9

0days of storage in the cold storage following precooling. She found that pre cooling at 4 C for 4 hours is the best combination of temperature and time duration. After pre cooling, the fruits can be stored for 41 days at low temperature. The last presentation of the session was delivered by Alemwati Pongener from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India on the topic “Salicylic acid maintains membrane

0stability and reduces pericarp browning in litchi”. His findings indicate that 10 C is the optimum temperature for maintaining the membrane stability. However, treatment of fruits with salicylic acid was found to be best for maximum shelflife of litchi fruits as compared to other treatments.

Technical Session VIIISocio-Economic and Other Issues

Chairman: Dr. R.K. Sohane, Director Extension Education, BAU, SabourCo-chairman: Dr. C.P. Suresh, Head (Horticulture), NEHU, Tura Campus, MeghalayaRapporteurs: Dr. Ram Dutt & Dr. C.K. Panda, BAU, Sabour

Dr. R.K. Sohane, DEE, BAU presented a paper entitled “Socio economic prospectus of litchi cultivation in Bihar”. He discussed the enhancement of livelihood of litchi growers in different districts of Bihar, particularly in Muzaffarpur, Vaishali, Samastipur, East Champaran, West Champaran and Sitamarhi. Further, he pointed out the difficulties in




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marketing of litchi and suggested the scientists to develop such technique to enhance the shelflife of the fruit so that it can be available in the market for longer period of time. Thereafter, Dr. C.P. Suresh from NEHU, Meghalaya discussed the socio-economic prospects of litchi cultivation as well as the problems faced by litchi growers in North Easten region of the country. Regarding difficulty in marketing of litchi, he agreed with the opinion of previous presenter Dr. R.K. Sohane. Further, he added that the lack of road and rail transportation in the remote litchi growing areas in NE Region makes marketing a difficult activity.

Dr. Sheraz Mahdi from BAU, Sabour delivered presentation on “Climate change and its impact on litchi production in India”. He mentioned that the poor as well as erratic bearing pattern in many important litchi-growing areas is the major issue from the last few years which is mainly due to the changing climatic scenario. The growth, panicle emergence time, flowering behaviour and flowering phase have been found to be influenced by the impact of climate change. The yield and productivity along with the quality of the litchi fruit has also been 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, he suggested to implement the strong adaptation strategies with efficient water-nutrient management, canopy management and integrated pest management (IPM) practices.

Dr. R.K. Patel from NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar presented research findings on “Litchi based cropping in pond based production system” He informed that substantial area of the country is under wastelands in the form of permanent and seasonal water logged, marshy land condition. Therefore, these wastelands can be utilised for the integrated farming system using litchi as the main crop. He further stressed on shaping of farmland for conservation of excess rain water and making the land surface suitable for cultivation of litchi on pond dykes and fishery in ponds through integrated farming system approach. The last presentation was made by Dr. S.R. Singh from BAU, Sabour on “Litchi producer's organization for profitable marketing of litchi (Litchi chinensis) in Bihar”. He pointed out that a large proportion of the litchi producers are small and marginal farmers characterised by fragmented small holdings. Being unorganized, they are unable to realize good price for their produce. Therefore he suggested the litchi growers to form organization/association/federation as large number of problems in marketing encountered by the litchi growers may be mitigated to a large extent by creation of such organization/federation. The technical session ended with the appreciation of chairman and co-chairman of the session.




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Valedictory Session

The Valedictory session of the V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan and st rdOther Sapindaceae Fruits from 31 May to 3 June, 2016 at BAU, Sabour commenced at

rd11.30 AM on 3 of June, 2016. During the valedictory function, Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh, Hon'ble Vice Chancellor, BAU, Sabour and Chairperson of the session; Sri Vijoy Prakash, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Govt. of Bihar and Chief guest of the function; Dr. H.P. Singh, Former DDG (Horticulture), ICAR, New Delhi; Dr. G. Trivedi, Former Vice Chancellor, RAU, Pusa; Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur; Dr. R. Cronje, Representative of ISHS, Belgium; Dr. R.K. Sohane; Director Extension, BAU, Sabour; Mr. Edward Grantham, Progressive farmer from South Africa and Dr. Feza Ahmed, Convenor of the V International Symposium on Lychee, Longan and Other Sapindaceae Fruits were present on the dais. The event started with honouring of guests with shawl and mementos followed by the University song, presented by undergraduate students. Dr. R.K. Sohane, Director Extension greeted the guests with the formal welcome address. Dr. Feza Ahmed, Convenor of the symposium depicted the major aspects discussed in all the eight technical sessions from 31 May to 03 June, 2016, where researchers from different part of the world presented their research work through oral and poster presentations. The most significant key points discussed were about the mutation breeding and good agricultural practices for improving the yield and quality of litchi and other sapindaceae fruits. He also gave clear message for litchi growers regarding selection of good quality planting materials while establishing new plantation. Mr. Edward Grantham, progressive farmer from South Africa talked about the post harvest management of litchi. He stated that he learnt many things from India particularly from this symposium regarding quality production and strategies for reducing the post harvest losses in litchi. Dr. G. Trivedi, Former Vice Chancellor, RAU, Pusa congratulated Bihar Agricultural University team for successfully organizing the symposium. He expressed concern about the meagre export of litchi from Bihar and urged agriculture production commissioner (APC) to explore the options. He emphasised how to extend the fruiting period of litchi from April to July and hoped that the symposium will bring changes and allow the free exchange of the materials of different institutes to overcome all the challenges regarding litchi cultivation and its export. Dr. Vishal Nath, Director, NRC, Litchi congratulated BAU, Sabour for success of the symposium. He focused on the importance and potential of regional litchi market at international level. He thanked the authority for organising the symposium at Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour and wished that India will lead the world in litchi production and export in the coming days. Dr. H.P. Singh, Former DDG (Horticulture), ICAR, New Delhi expressed his




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concerns about the impact of climate change on crop production which is a burning issue now a day. He also pointed out that if this problem of climate change is not solved then it will be very difficult for us to feed 10 billion populations by 2050, especially in Asia and Africa. He said that the problem can be solved by adopting new policies and technologies. Further, he stated that 2-3˚C increase in temperature and 350-500 ppm high CO would be good for 2

litchi growth. Changes are obvious as cropping area has shifted. He said that scientists have contributed a lot as they have power of the science and technologies to change the condition. India is the leader in horticulture sector in the world and focussing more on horticulture will be a tribute to pioneer horticulturists of this country. He also urged APC to give facility to scientists to visit different research institutes of the country as well as abroad to gather ideas for improvement. Exposure of scientists to better laboratories would definitely serve the purpose. He described that the cracking of litchi is caused due to water imbalance, hence, intermittent watering is needed in litchi during the entire fruit development stahe. Pulse irrigation/drip irrigation is highly beneficial for that purpose. Fertigation reduces the 50 percent consumption of the fertilizers and also keeps the environment and soil in healthy condition. He also focused his concern on soil health card and balanced nutrient application. Further, he stated that litchi has narrow genetic base and is highly heterozygous in nature. Hence to develop new varieties, scientist should focus on biotechnological approaches instead of conventional breeding techniques. The address of Dr. H.P. Singh was followed by the release of publications regarding litchi which include a book entitled “Litchi: Global Perspectives”. Thereafter, certificates for best poster and oral presentation for eight different technical sessions were awarded by the dignitaries to appreciate the good research work carried out by the researchers throughout the world. Further, Mr. Sammer Muhamed, student of Kerala Agricultural University, Thrissur and Ms. Pushpa Kumari, student of Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour received best oral and poster presentation award respectively from ISHS, Berlgium. Later on, Sri, Vijoy Prakash, APC, Govt. of Bihar gave mementos to each foreign participant. Dr. Ragina B. Cronje honoured the convenor and co-convenors of the symposium for making this mega event successful. She also announced that the venue for next symposium on litchi would be Vietnam. In case of change of the venue, Taiwan, Madagascar and Mauritius may take over as in sequence. The new chairperson of the committee would be Dr. Vishal Nath. Further, she also added that the name of the Lychee was changed to Litchi and this should be considered globally. During the Presidential Address the Hon'ble Vice Chancellor Dr. Ajoy Kumar Singh thanked all the organizers, guest speakers and the participants for making this international event successful as it was organized first time in the country. He also suggested to establish one centre for Horticulture department at Patna. He said that separate land will be provided for Litchi, Longan and Sapindaceae fruits at Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour. He urged scientists to see the feasibility of widening the narrow genetic base by mutation breeding. He




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also showed his concerned about export, packing problems, fruit borer etc. He appreciated the valedictory lecture of Dr. H.P. Singh and said that whatever he said will be followed sincerely and all the recommendations would be taken care. Sri Vijay Prakash, Agricultural Production Commissioner, Govt. of Bihar Congratulated ISHS, Belgium and BAU, Sabour for organizing symposium on Litchi. He said litchi was brought from some other region of the world but the efforts of the farmers have made it a grand success in Bihar. However, the performance of Indian litchi industry particularly for export sector is very poor. He informed the house that only 1 percent of the

rdtotal litchi is being exported and about 1/3 is going waste every year. If we reduce this 30 percent of post harvest loss, the economy of the litchi growers can be flourished in the near future. He also added that litchi price varies according to market and thus we should grow litchi in different part of the country to make it available in large scale and also to extend the fruiting period. Further, he pointed out the challenges in enhancing the shelflife from 15 days to 1 month and suggested the scientist to take initiative in this regard and to organise training programmes for the farmers regarding recent development in this aspect to make the farmers aware about it. He also urged the litchi grower to be aware of the medicinal value of litchi. Further, he added that, we should learn about the packaging and grading from Israel and also pointed out that centre for excellence for modern horticulture technologies must be constructed throughout the country. At the end he welcomed the foreign delegates to visit other areas of Bihar as it is the land of the origin of two important religions Buddhism and Jainism. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by the Convenor of the symposium, Dr. M. Feza Ahmad who got emotional while thanking everyone who has joined hands for making the symposium a grand success.




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Key RecommendationsTechnical Session I: World Production and Trade Scenario

1. Litchi is an important fruit crop of India having a narrow genetic base which hinders the crop improvement programme. Therefore, it is very important to enrich the genetic variability of the crop. Mutation breeding and other breeding methods should be adopted in near future to increase the genetic variability in litchi.

2. Shelflife of litchi is very short which makes the fruits available in market for maximum one month. This short span fruit availability could be addressed by growing the crop in non-traditional areas like Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, where litchi matures during the month of December & January.

3. The imbalance in bearing of the leading cultivars can be overcome by the use of girdling techniques. Hence girdling techniques may be popularized among the farmers.

4. Although India is the second largest litchi producing country in the world after China, the productivity of the crop is very low (7 t/ha). Hence, it is need of the hour to develop the technologies for improving the productivity. High productivity up to 20-25 mt/ha can be achieved by proper orchard management techniques, canopy architecture management, mycorrhizal and biofertilizer application and effective pest control techniques. Therefore, such technologies may be popularized among farmers to improve productivity.

5. Fruit borer is the major concern in litchi orchards and there is limitation of using chemical pesticides to control as most of the chemical pesticides have residual effect. To overcome fruit borer problem, neem based pesticides may be recommended.

6. Bagging litchi bunches with polypropylene (PP) bags can effectively minimize the problem of fruit cracking and borer attack at the maturity of the fruit. In the same time it also makes the fruit free from pesticidal residues.

7. Apart from litchi, popularization of minor Sapindaceae fruits particularly longan, rambutan and pulasan in the tropical humid regions of the country could improve the economic condition of the growers in the coming time. Hence appropriate extension and technology dissimination activities may be undertaken to popularize these crops.

Technical Session II: Biodiversity, Genetic Resource a nd Breeding1. Research work may be initiated in near future to extract the oil from litchi seeds. 2. Litchi has very narrow genetic base, therefore genome sequencing of this fruit crop is

the need of the hour.3. India is one of the richest source of diverse germplasm for different fruit crops of

sapindaceae family particularly for rambutam, longan and pulasan. Therefore, exploitation, utilization and conservation of these germplasm at all the fruit research centre is of utmost importance in crop improvement programmes.




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Technical Session III: Physiology, Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Nanotechnology1. Fertilizers recommendation should be variety specific. Growers should apply first

basal dose of fertilizer just after harvesting and pruning and second application during stone hardening stage. However, Fe and Mg must be applied during the marble stage.

2. Stored assimilates are more important during fruit development stage and current assimilates during fruit growth. Hence future research work should be formulated to study the effect of storage assimilates on fruit growth and development in litchi and other sapindaceae fruits.

3. Delaying of 25 percent of total recommended dose of fertilizer by 10 days from the normal time after fruit setting and next 25 percent at fruit development stage is more useful in litchi cultivation particularly to increase the yield of the crop.

Technical Session IV: Propagation and Orchard Management1. Plant canopy architecture management is the key to improve the yield and quality of

litchi fruits. As litchi requires sufficient light and air for better yield and quality, proper training and pruning should be the basis of scientific litchi cultivation.

2. To get higher yield of better quality fruits without any pesticide residues, particularly for export purpose, farmers should adopt organic litchi production techniques.

3. Foliar application of zinc has significant effect on fruit set and fruit development. Therefore, applications of ZnSO @ 0.75 percent at pre-flowering, flowering and 4

fruit set stage is recommended to get higher yield with better quality fruits. 4. Patch budding for litchi propagation has been developed as an alternative of widely

used method of air layering. Nurseries can adopt patch budding technique for the production of quality planting materials of litchi on the large scale.

Technical Session V: Plant Growth Regulators in Litchi Production1. The concentration of PGR should be standardized for specific purposes and it also

should be region specific.2. While recommending to the farmers, scientists/researchers should be cautious about

the doses of ethaphon and other PGR and it must be in the form which is easily available in the market.

Technical Session VI: Disorders, Disease and Insect-Pest Management1. Foliar application of boron and NAA is highly effective to reduce the flower and fruit

drop in litchi. In addition, farmers should also maintain proper soil moisture in the orchard during the entire period of fruit growth and development to overcome the problem of fruit cracking. However, it severe the problem of fruit cracking, spraying of zinc sulphate (1.5 percent) at weekly intervals right from the pea stage of fruit growth to till harvesting or spraying of borax at 0.8 percent is recommended.




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2. Application of GA (40 mg/ l), Ethephon (1-10 mg/l) and 2,4-D (20 mg/l) or NAA 3

(50 mg/l) is helpful to overcome the problem. 3. Besides, sprinkler and drip irrigation is also helpful in reducing the problem of fruit

cracking and 50 per cent shade at the time of maturity is highly effective for 100 percent control of fruit cracking.

4. In the present scenario, three diseases namely blight, wilt and fruit rot are the most important diseases of litchi in India. Hence emphasis should be given on control and management of these three diseases in future research work.

Technical Session VII: Postharvest Biology and Technology, Processing, Marketing & Export

1. To overcome the problem of sun burning in litchi, bagging of the fruits with polypropylene bags may be recommended. It will help in improving the quality of litchi fruits.

2. Pericarp browning can be reduced by postharvest treatments with salicylic acid and low temperature storage.

3. Infrastructure and facilities for pre cooling and cold chain management should be created for maintaining fruit quality and to increase shelf life of fruits during storage and transportation.

4. Packaging in CFB boxes and plastic containers reduces the bruising and also improve the export quality of the fruits. Hence use of CFB boxes and plastic containers is recommended for transport of litchi fruit.

Technical Session VIII: Socio-Economic and Other Issues1. To encourage the litchi growers to increase the area coverage under litchi, govt.

should take initiative for setting up of processing unit in litchi production areas; proving cold chain facility and storage unit.

2. Litchi growers need to be organized into primary producers associations in order to address the forward and backward market linkage problem so as to provide demand driven extension services and to improve bargaining power.

3. The impact of climate change on litchi can be minimized by adoption of scientific management practices such as efficient water-nutrient management, canopy management and integrated pest management (IPM) practices.

4. Litchi based integrated farming system must be popularized to increase the income of the litchi growers.




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Patron Dr. A.K. Singh Vice Chancellor, Bihar Agricultural University, Sabour, Bihar, India

Scientific Committee SN Name SN Name 1 Dr. N.K. Krishna Kumar, ICAR, New

Delhi, India 14 Dr. R.K. Pathak,ICAR -CISH,

Rehmankhera, Kakori, Lucknow, India 2 Dr. James Drinnan, Department of

Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Queensland, Australia

15 Dr. Jiechun Pan, Guangxi University, China

3 Dr. Xuming Huang, South China Agricultural University, China

16 Dr. Moshe Goren, Agriculture Research Organization, Volcani Center, Israel

4 Dr. H.P. Singh, ICAR, New Delhi, India 17 Dr. Regina Cronje, ARC-Institute for Tropical and Subtropical Crops, Nelspruit, South Africa

5 Dr. A.K. Singh, Division of Horticultural Science, KAB - II, New Delhi, India

18 Dr. S.D. Sikhamani, ICAR-IIHR, Hessaraghatta lake post, Bengaluru, India

6 Dr. S.K. Malhotra, Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare, Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi, India

19 Dr. S.P. Ghosh, ICAR, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi, India

7 Dr. D.P. Rai, Orissa University of Agriculture & Technology, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India

20 Dr. Steve Oosthuyse, SQM Africa, Tzaneen, South Africa

8 Dr. G.L. Koul, Assam Agricultural University Jorhat, Assam, India

21 Dr. Victor Galan Souco, Isaac Albeniz, Canary Islands, Spain

9 Dr. Ursula Wermund, UNIVEG KATOPE,France

22 Dr. S.K. Mitra, Faculty of Horticulture, BCKV, Mohanpur, West Bengal, India

10 Dr. B.C.M. Reddy, ICAR -IIHR, Hessaraghatta lake post, Bengaluru, India

23 Dr. W.S. Dillon, Department of Horticulture, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab, India

11 Dr. Peerasak Chaiprasart, Naresuan University, Thailand

24 Dr. M.R. Dinesh, ICAR -IIHR, Hessaraghatta lake post, Bengaluru, India

12 Dr. P.K. Ray, Horticulture Department, Rajendra Agricultural University, Samastipur, Bihar, India

25 Dr. N. Kumar, Horticultural College & Research Institute, TNAU, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

13 Dr. Vishal Nath, ICAR - NRC on Litchi, Muzaffarpur, Bihar, India

26 Dr. V.B. Patel, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

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Symposium Organising Committee Advisory Committee

Dr. Arun Kumar Dean (Ag.) and Director Planning, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. R.K. Sohane Director Extension Education, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. B.C. Saha DRI-cum-Dean PGS, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. J.B. Tomar Director Research, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. K.K. Singh Director Seed and Farm, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. Ashok Kumar Director Students Welfare, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. B.B. Mishra Associate Dean-cum-Principal, BAC, Sabour , Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. U.S. Jaiswal Associate Dean-cum-Principal, VKS College of Agriculture, Dumraon , Bihar, India

Dr. Rajesh Kumar Associate Dean-cum-Principal, BPSAC, Purnea , Bihar, India

Working Committee Convener: Prof. M. Feza Ahmad

Chairman, Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Co-Convener: Dr. R.R. Singh Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. Sanjay Sahay Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. Ruby Rani Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Secretary: Dr. Kumari Karuna Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. Hidayatullah Mir Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Joint Secretary: Dr. Samik Sengupta Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Dr. Manoj Kundu Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Treasurer: Mr. Ravindra Kumar Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Co-Treasurer:

Dr. Rupa Rani Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour , Bhagalpur, Bihar, India

Editorial Team: Dr. Sanjay Sahay Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Dr. Ruby Rani Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Dr. Muneshwar Prasad Deptt. Horticulture (F& FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Dr. Hidayatullah Mir Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Dr. Manoj Kundu Deptt. Horticulture (F&FT), BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar, India Dr. Wasim Siddiqui Deptt. of Food Science & Post Harvest Technology, BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur, Bihar

Inaugural speech of Prof. M. Feza Ahmad,

Convenor of the symposium

Inaugural speech of Hon'ble Vice Chancellor,

BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur (India)

Representation of Dr. Regina B. Cronje

regarding the activities of ISHS,

Belgium throughout the world

Padma Shree Dr. K.L. Chadha during his

plenary lecture

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Participants present in the auditorium on the st1 day of the symposium

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Publication of Souvenir & Abstracts book in the

inaugural season of the symposium




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Visit to the field of litchi growers at

Naugachia, Bihar, India

Meeting with ISHS members

South African progressive litchi farmer

interacting with the scientist of NRC on

litchi, Muzaffarpur during poster session

Dr. Bikash Das receiving memento from Prof. P.K. Ray at the end of Technical

Session III of the Symposium

Prof. U.S. Jaiswal and Dr. Li Dong-bo

Chairing Technical Session IV of the Symposium

Prof. W.S. Dhillon during his oral presentation at Technical Session VII of the

Symposium




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Interaction between judges and the presenter during

poster presentation session of the symposium

Judgement of poster presentation session

of the symposium

Valedictory speech of Hon'ble Vice Chancellor,

BAU, Sabour, Bhagalpur (India)

Valedictory speech of Sri Vijoy Prakash,

Agriculture Production Commissioner,

Govt. of Bihar (India)

ISHS representative presenting the ISHS

student awards to Mr. Sameer Muhamed for

the best oral presentation

ISHS representative presenting the ISHS

student awards to Ms. Pushpa Kumari for

the best poster presentation




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Organized by

Bihar Agricultural UniversitySabour, Bhagalpur -813210 (Bihar)

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