Breeding of a new high quality litchi cultivar ‘Feicui'

Astract:‘Feicui'is a new litchi cultivar selected from the mutant progeny of litchi germplasm. It wasinitially selected in 1998 for its green peel, crisp flesh and long picking time. After regional adaptabilitytesting at four sites over four years from 2012 to 2016, it was finally selected in 2016. This new cultivar isa tall tree, attaining a height of 10 m; the tree is vigorous with semicircular crown and upright tree gesture.Leaves are prolate ellipse, 6.95-16.5 cm long and 2.18-4.75 cm wide. Inflorescence is conical, with shortrachis and small lateral cluster. Flower is white and female flower diameter is 0.31 cm long. The propor-tion of female-male flower is 1∶1.43. Fruit position is top of branches. Fruit is mainly spheroidal and hasgreen-red peel. Its flesh is white and crisp, with fine texture and aroma. The average fruit weight is 24.3 g, with a maximum fruit weight of 36.0 g. The seed abortion rate is 91.3%. The eatable rate is 78.7%. Thecontent of soluble solid, soluble sugar and soluble acid are 18.3%, 13.5% and 0.1%, respectively. Thecontent of vitamin C is 293.0 mg·kg-1. And the fruit quality is excellent. The fruit development period is70 d and it matures at the end of June in Maoming area. This litchi cultivar has high and stable yield, aswell as a long harvesting time. The graft compatibility is high between‘Feicui'and‘Heiye'‘Baila'‘Feizixiao'and‘Huaizhi'. Suitable cultivation area contains most of the litchi production areas in Guang-dong province. This variety can bear fruits three years after high-grafting, and has high yield potential. Or-chard should choose acid red loam which is flat and has the ability of retaining moisture and fertilizer.Spacing in the rows and spacing between rows are 5 m×8 m, and cultural practice includes controllingshoot growth in winter which aims at promoting flower-formation.