Performance of promising litchi cultivars in red and lateritic zone of Birbhum

A field investigation was conducted to study the characteristics and performance of some promising litchi cultivars (10 years old) grown under the semi-arid, subtropical, red and lateritic zone of Sriniketan region in Birbhum district of West Bengal during 2016–17. The cultivars were evaluated for various plant morphology, yield and physico-chemical characteristics of fruits. The pooled results of the two year experimentation revealed that ‘Bombai’ exhibited maximum tree height (5.18m), tree volume (79.11m), fruit yield (51.55kg/tree), fruit size (length: 3.61cm; breadth: 3.34cm), fruit weight (19.86g), fruit volume (18.05cm³) and minimum fruit cracking percent (2.15%). Whereas, the cultivar ‘Bedana’ exhibited maximum aril weight (15.40g), small seed size (1.55g), maximum aril/seed ratio (9.92), maximum TSS (19.28°B), minimum acidity (0.28%), maximum sugar/acid ratio (70.54), maximum ascorbic acid (51.49mg/100g) and maximum sugars content. Based on the plant morphology, yield and physico-chemical characteristics of fruits the cultivars Bombai and Bedana are superior in growth, yield and fruit quality and stand promising for the small family farming orchard in the red and lateritic zone of Birbhum district in West Bengal.