Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(8): 1053-1061 1053 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.808.122 Pre-Harvest Foliar Application of Nutrients in Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) in Order to Improve its Quality and Shelf Life Surya Pratap Singh*, D.S. Mishra, Manpreet Singh and Ankit Dongariyal G.B.P.U.A.T Pantnagar - 263145 Uttarakhand, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Litchi (Litchi chinensis Sonn.) is one of the important fruit crop, indigenous to warm sub- tropics of southern China. It is highly specific to climatic requirements, as it required cool dry winters and warm wet summers and due to this reason its cultivation is restricted to few states in our country. In India major litchi producing states are Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Assam, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Bihar is leading state in litchi production, with an annual production of 234 thousand metric tonnes. In Uttarakhand litchi is mainly grown on an area of 9.44 thousand hectare with the annual production of 30.71 MT. The main cultivars which are grown in Uttarakhand are Rose Scented, Dehradun, Bedana, Shahi and China, however, Rose Scented and Dehradun are main dominating cultivars. Litchi is an arillate and nut type fruit botanically which is known for its excellent quality, juicy, slightly sour and sweet taste, characteristic pleasant International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 08 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com The present investigation was carried out at Horticultural Research Centre, Pattharchatta, Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, District- Udham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand during April to June 2015. The objective of this investigation was to see the effect of nutrients viz., urea (1%), KNO 3 (2%), calcium chloride (1%), borax (1%), multiplex (0.4%) and their combinations on fruit quality and shelf life of litchi cv. Rose Scented. The experiment was laid out in randomized block design which was replicated thrice with one tree per replication. The results indicated that among all the treatments urea 1% + borax 1% and urea 1% + calcium chloride 1% was found best. In terms of physico-chemical characters fruit weight (21.50 g), and fruit volume (19.87 ml) were found maximum with minimum stone per cent (15.33%) with application of urea 1% + calcium chloride 1%. Fruits treated with urea 1% + borax 1% gave maximum total sugars (13.86%) and reducing sugars (12.30%) as compared to control. In case of storage characters, application of calcium chloride 1% and urea 1% + calcium chloride 1% resulted in minimum physiological loss in weight (4.68%) and decay percentage (17.12%), respectively. Keywords Litchi, KNO 3 , Rose scented Accepted: 10 July 2019 Available Online: 10 August 2019 Article Info