Lychee (Litchi) - Tropical and Subtropical Fruits: Postharvest Physiology, Processing and Packaging - page 234

and the acidity is 0.3-0.4%. The fruits are harvested early
in the morning when temperature and humidity are conge-
nial, to have longer shelf life of the fruits. At the time of
harvest, fruits are collected in a manner so that they do not
fall on the ground. Use of mechanical tools for harvesting
is being practiced on an increasing level.

reported that the ethylene production rate of lychee fruit
stored at 1 ◦ -3 ◦ C remained relatively constant for about
30 days.

Chilling injury
Tropical and subtropical fruits are often damaged when
exposed to low but nonfreezing temperatures. However, ly-
chee fruit is relatively tolerant compared with other species
(Holcroft and Mitcham, 1996; Mahajan and Goswami,
2004). Huang and Wang (1990) reported increased brown-
ing of lychee fruit wrapped in polyethylene film and stored
at 0 ◦ −

Consumption trends and significance
to human health
Lychee fruit is prized on the world market for their fla-
vor, semitranslucent white aril and attractive red skin
(Johnston et al., 1980; Mahattanatawee et al., 2007; Wu
et al., 2009). With the improvement of postharvest tech-
nology, fresh lychee fruit can be stored for about 30 days
at low temperature (Jiang et al., 2006a). In addition, some
lychee-derived foods such as lychee arils, wine, juice, and
ice cream are also available in the market (Shah, 2007; Shah
and Nath, 2006, 2008; Zeng et al., 2008; Li et al., 2009).
In recent years, some pharmacological activities such as
hypoglycemic, anticancer, antibacterial, and antiviral prop-
erties of lychee fruit have been found (Wang et al., 2006a,
2006b; Zhao et al., 2007; Nishihira et al., 2008; Nimman-
pipug et al., 2009; Ogasawara et al., 2009), which could
make a significant contribution to human health.

2 ◦ C. Nonetheless, susceptibility of lychee fruit to
chilling injury, which manifests as irregular patches of
browning on the pericarp (Jiang and Li, 2003), has been
questioned as it is difficult to differentiate potential symp-
toms of chilling injury from those of fruit senescence. De-
pending on the cultivar, lychee fruit can generally be stored
at 3 ◦ -5 ◦ C for 30 days without exhibiting obvious chilling
symptoms and flavor loss (Table 13.1), but rapid pericarp
browning and fruit rotting occur when lychee fruit is re-
moved from cold storage after long periods and transferred
to storage at room temperature (Jiang and Li, 2003; Liu
et al., 2007). The optimal storage temperature for individ-
ual cultivars can be assessed periodically by determining
changes in rates of relative leakage during storage, and it
can also be assessed on the basis of poststorage shelf life
when the fruit is transferred to room temperature.

POSTHARVEST PHYSIOLOGY

Respiration
Lychee fruit is nonclimacteric fruit exhibiting a continu-
ous decline in respiration rate during fruit ripening (Jiang
et al., 1986). Paull and Chen (1987) reported that the
respiration rate of 'Chenzi' fruit declined from 103 to
39 mg/kg/hr after 8 days of storage at 22 ◦ C, whereas
Nagar (1994) showed that the respiration rate of 'Cal-
cutta' fruit declined from 36.3 to 18.1 mg/kg/hr after 6
days of storage at 25 ◦ C. These very different respiration
rates of lychee fruit may be attributed to cultivar differ-
ences. Kader (2000) reported that respiration rate ranges
for lychee fruit were 9.5-15.1 mg/kg/hr at 5 ◦ C, 18.6 − 28.5
mg/kg/hr at 10 ◦ C, and 47.2-74.4 mg/kg/hr at 20 ◦ C. Thus
storage at low temperatures markedly inhibits lychee fruit
respiration.

Peroxidative activity
Superoxide dismutase activity in lychee fruit pericarp de-
creases, whereas peroxidase (POD) activity and malondi-
aldehyde concentration (product of peroxidated membrane
lipids) increase along with membrane breakdown during
storage of lychee fruit at ambient temperature (Lin et al.,

Table 13.1. Chilling temperature and fruit
storage temperature recommendations for
selected major lychee cultivars in China.

Storage Temperatures ( ◦ C)

Chilling
Temperature ( ◦ C) Cultivar Minimum Optimum

Ethylene production
Lychee fruit has relatively low ethylene production rates
(

Dazaox 0.0 to − 1.0 2 − 3 5

Guiwei − 0.5 to − 1.0 1 − 3 4

2.8 μ l/kg/hr) after harvest as compared with climacteric
fruits (Chen et al., 1986; Jiang et al., 1986). However, high
ethylene production rates of 18.5-21.8 μ l/kg/hr have been
recorded for 'Huaizhi' in association with skin browning
and rotting (Jiang and Chen, 1995). Chen et al. (1986)

< Huaizhi 0.0 to − 1.5 2 − 3 5

Heye − 0.5 to − 1.0 2 − 3 5

Nomici − 0.5 to − 0.5 1 − 2 3

Source: Jiang et al. (2006b).