Commercial postharvest handling and storage technology of litchi fruit

Litchi is a famous subtropical fruit species in southern China. Since litchi fruit mature in hot season, the fruit deteriorate rapidly after harvest due to pericarp browning (i.e. loss of red color) and fruit decay, the postharvest life of fruit at ambient temperature is less than 3 days. This short postharvest period limits its long-distance transportation, marketing and consumption. Therefore, postharvest research becomes a key problem in the development of litchi production. This paper comprehensively introduces the causes of decay and losses of litchi fruit (i.e. the structural characteristics of fruit, the physiological and pathological causes), techniques of commercial postharvest handling and storage of litchi fruit, including differing storage characteristics of cultivars, harvest maturity and harvesting method, sorting and grading, fungicides dipping, treatments to reduce water loss, treatments to reduce pericarp browning and maintain red color of litchi fruit such as SO₂ fumigation, acid dipping or plastic packaging, quarantine treatment such as insect disinfestations, precooling, packaging, fruit storage under ambient temperature, cold storage, controlled or modified atmosphere storage, transportation and marketing.