ABSTRACT
Litchi is native to southern China and northern Vietnam and is an important economic fruit crop in tropical and subtropical regions of the world despite 420it is still being considered a minor crop worldwide. Currently, China, India, Thailand, and Vietnam are the major litchi-producing countries in the world. Annual production worldwide has been increasing significantly over the past 20 years and is currently about 4.3 million tons of fresh litchi across 819,000 ha. With its attractive exotic appearance and taste, as well as its rich nutritional value, fresh litchi fruit has become very popular on international markets. Apart from being mainly consumed as fresh fruit, litchi is also used in making processed products and in traditional medicine. Major challenges in litchi production are irregular bearing, narrow harvesting window, and short shelf life. Litchi is also susceptible to a range of pests and diseases. Conventional breeding has struggled to create new litchi cultivars due to its long reproductive cycle, low fertility, and heterozygous nature, and molecular breeding techniques are needed to obtain new improved cultivars with novel traits.
