The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

Six lychee (Litchee chinensis) cultivars grown on an Inceptisol soil were evaluated for four and seven years under intensive management in separate experiments at two locations (La Balear farm and UPR-Adjuntas) in Adjuntas, PR, respectively. There were significant differences in number of marketable fruits per hectare among cultivars at both locations but weight of marketable fruit per hectare was significant at La Balear farm only. At La Balear farm, cultivars Kaimana, Bosworth-3, and Groff had significantly higher number of marketable fruits per hectare, averaging 303,084 fruits per hectare whereas in UPR-Adjuntas, cultivar Groff had higher number of fruit per hectare (173,105 fruits/ha) although it was not significantly different than most of the other cultivars which averaged 123,998 fruits per hectare. There were no significant differences among cultivars in weight of marketable fruits per hectare at UPR-Adjuntas, averaging 1,930 kg/ha, whereas cultivar Kaimana had significantly higher marketable fruit weight (6,910 kg/ha) at La Balear farm. At both locations, cultivar Salathiel showed lower number and weight of marketable fruits per hectare. Higher °Brix (sweetness) values were obtained from fruits of cultivars Kaimana, Bosworth-3, and Groff at both locations whereas lower °Brix values were obtained in cultivars Mauritius, Brewster, and Salathiel.