How to manage and preserve lychee well after harvest
Lychee cultivation techniques, we know about them, but do you know what treatments need to be done after harvesting lychee? Let's take a look together!
Post-harvest treatment of lychee
Lychee fruit is best harvested when the red-ripe area of the skin reaches 50% or more and the soluble solids reach 16 Brix or above, so that it has both appearance and flavor quality. If lychee fruit is not handled properly after harvest, under the summer climate conditions of Taiwan, China, the skin is prone to drying and browning and moldy rot, and the time available for storage, transport and sale is usually less than 2 days. Suitable methods include
(1) Adjusting field nutrition and water management to improve the fruit's storage and transport tolerance and reduce fruit cracking;
(2) Carrying out good field disease and pest control;
(3) Avoiding bruising, puncturing or scraping during harvest and handling;
(4) Rapidly cooling and maintaining moisture after harvest to keep the fruit fresh in quality.
After harvesting, lychee fruit should be quickly moved to a cool place, then destemmed, graded or arranged into bunches; after being placed in baskets or boxes, it should be quickly pre-cooled and then supplied through low-temperature transport and marketing. Only in this way can the quality of short-distance storage and transport be ensured, the shelf life extended, and the moldy rot loss rate of long-distance storage and transport also significantly reduced. Regarding storage and transport temperature control, 'Heiye', 'Yu He Bao', 'Nuomi' and 'Guiwei' lychees are all best kept at 4-5°C; if combined with plastic wrap packaging and maintaining 90-95% humidity, the drying and browning of the skin and moldy rot of the fruit can be reduced or avoided; the storage life can reach 2-3 weeks. However, note that when stored for 3 weeks, 'Nuomi' and 'Guiwei' fruit occasionally show sugar loss, and flavor quality drops sharply. If placed at 7-10°C, although the best fruit color of lychee can be maintained, the fruit is prone to moldy rot. If placed at 0-2°C, although moldy rot is reduced, it will cause chilling injury and browning deterioration. These 2 temperatures can only be used for short-distance storage and transport for sale within 5-10 days. The shelf life of lychee shortens as the storage and transport time increases. A cool sales environment of 5-10°C can better slow fruit moldy rot and is an important key to extending the sales period.
