Detailed Explanation of New Techniques for Four-Season Flower Induction in Longan
Longan is a subtropical evergreen fruit tree, native to the southern provinces and regions of China, with a cultivation history of more than 2000 years. Longan fruit has high nutritional value, and the fresh fruit is delicious and tasty, with effects of tonifying the heart and benefiting the spleen, nourishing the blood and calming the mind, preventing vascular sclerosis, and anti-aging. Under natural conditions, longan flower formation requires cool, dry and other climatic...
Longan is a subtropical evergreen fruit tree, native to the southern provinces and regions of China, with a cultivation history of more than 2000 years. Longan fruit has high nutritional value, and the fresh fruit is delicious and tasty, with effects of tonifying the heart and benefiting the spleen, nourishing the blood and calming the mind, preventing vascular sclerosis, and anti-aging. Under natural conditions, longan flower formation requires cool, dry and other climatic conditions; in recent years, however, the climate has quite frequently shown abnormal situations, with winters either warm and humid, prone to winter shoots, or with severe cold waves and frost. Abnormal climate has disrupted the normal physiological state of longan trees. Therefore, the problem of difficulty in flower formation of in-season longan is relatively common in our province and even in the various production areas of southern China. In addition, the maturity season of in-season longan is generally from July to August, and the market launch is overly concentrated, with heavy market sales pressure being a major factor affecting its economic benefits. If fresh longan fruit were supplied throughout the year, its price and benefits would rise steadily. Taken together, the success of year-round flower induction technology for longan will have the following significance:
1. It will greatly deepen people's understanding of the theory of longan flower bud differentiation and flower formation;
2. It can overcome the occurrence of alternate bearing in longan, ensure high and stable yields of longan, and can advance or delay the harvest and market launch period, providing timely remedial measures when in-season cultivation does not achieve ideal flowering and fruiting.
3. It can regulate the flowering and fruiting period of longan according to people's wishes, purposefully produce off-season longan, extend the fresh fruit supply period, regulate market supply, reduce sales pressure, help stabilize prices, and increase economic benefits.
4. It will greatly promote the development of tourist and sightseeing orchards. At present, most tourist and sightseeing orchards have poor benefits and are difficult to sustain; one of the reasons is the lack of high-quality fruit supplied year-round and the lack of fruit varieties that allow visitors to pick and taste fresh fruit in all four seasons.
5. It simplifies and perfects the techniques of shoot control and flower induction, avoiding the negative effects on tree vigor from long-term use of physical and chemical shoot control techniques.