Longan × litchi =?
According to the micro-signal of South China Agricultural University on August 25th, the team of Professor Liu Cheng Ming from South China Agricultural University bred the world’s first new interspecific hybrid variety of longan and litchi-"Crispy Honey".
"This is the first new hybrid variety of longan and litchi in the world, which is of groundbreaking significance."
According to Liu Chengming, head of the breeding team and professor of Horticulture College of South China Agricultural University, "Crispy Honey" was developed in 15 years, and Shijie Longan and Ziniangxi Litchi were selected as hybrid objects.
Image source: South China Agricultural University micro-signal screenshot
"’Crispy Honey’ was originally called’ Shizi Crispy Honey’. It is a new variety bred by interspecific cross breeding with Shijie longan as female parent and Ziniangxi litchi as male parent." Liu Chengming introduced.
This variety has some advantages of Shek Kip Longan and Ziniangxi Litchi. Its flesh is tender and crisp, completely residue-free, and its sugar content is as high as 20-24%. "Crispy and honey well summarize its characteristics." Liu Cheng said.
Is crisp honey litchi or longan?
According to the release from Conghua, Guangzhou, recently, the reporter saw the true face of "Crispy Honey" at the on-site observation and tasting meeting of the late-maturing high-quality inter-species hybrid variety "Crispy Honey (SZ52)" held at the planting base of "Crispy Honey" in Shuixi Village, Aotou Town.
So, is this hybrid litchi or longan?
Liu Chengming, the head of the breeding team and a professor at the School of Horticulture, South China Agricultural University, explained that in fact, "Crispy Honey" is still a longan variety, but its flesh is tender, which is similar to that of litchi. In addition, the cracked skin of "Crispy Honey" is obvious and has a knot in one’s heart shape, which is also a unique feature of litchi.
Liu Chengming said that in the 1990s, there was a hot field in fruit tree breeding, that is, the technology of inducing protoplasts of different species, genera and even families to fuse by artificial methods, and then culturing them in vitro to regenerate hybrid plants.
Image source: South China Agricultural University micro-signal screenshot
At that time, many scientific research teams were doing related work, and Liu Chengming also planned to explore litchi and longan, but the results never came out. So he decided to change his mind and do sexual hybridization between the two genera. Through constant experiments, he tried hard to find the technical means to obtain hybrid seeds. With a success rate of only a few thousandths, it finally succeeded.
Its fruit is nearly round, the peel is yellow-green, and the fruit is large, with an average single fruit weight of 11.5 g. However, its flesh is thick and waxy yellow, with an edible rate of 70.8% and a sugar content as high as 20-24%. It tastes tender and crisp, has no residue at all, and has a sweet and juicy flavor and aroma.
What are the advantages of crisp honey?
According to experts, "Crispy Honey" can make the longan producing area move northward, expand the producing area and lengthen the production period because of its late maturity and cold resistance, and Guangdong longan can also be eaten in the Mid-Autumn Festival in the future.
"It has been 15 years since artificial sexual hybridization in 2007, and this process is really not easy." Liu Cheng said that the "crisp honey" cultivated now has many advantages.
First of all, the maturity of "Crispy Honey" is 15~20 days later than that of Shijie Longan, which can stagger the centralized listing time.
Image source: South China Agricultural University micro-signal screenshot
Secondly, the "crisp honey" branches have strong growth ability and the trees are strong. Shuixi Orchard began to graft "Crispy Honey" in March 2020 and began to bear fruit in 2021, which is related to the growth characteristics of "Crispy Honey". According to reports, a compound leaf of "Crispy Honey" has 7 pairs of leaflets (5 pairs of longan in Shek Kip and only 3 pairs of litchi), which are very large, with a large total leaf area and high efficiency of light energy utilization. Therefore, the pregnant spikes and fruit spikes are also large, which is easy to achieve the goal of high and stable yield.
Another important feature of "crisp honey" is that it is more resistant to low temperature and strong cold resistance. In January, 2021, Chaozhou experienced a low temperature of-3 ~-4℃. In the same area, the branches of Shijie longan were severely frozen, and the leaves were dry, yellow and curly, and the degree of freezing damage reached Grade 4, but the leaves of "Crispy Honey" were only slightly damaged, and the degree of freezing damage was only Grade 1. Therefore, in Liu Jiaoshou’s view, Conghua, located in the north of Guangzhou, has a good prospect in popularizing this variety.
In March, 2020, the first trial "crab" was made in Shuixi Village, Aotou Town, Conghua, and the "brittle honey" was grafted, and the fruit was borne in August, 2021.
At present, the base has just entered the mature stage, and the picking period can last until mid-September, which obviously prolongs the fresh fruit supply period of longan. This year is the second year of fruiting, and the output is expected to be 4000~5000 kg, mainly for customized sales. At present, all the "crisp honey" of the base has been booked out. At present, "Crispy Honey" has performed well in Chaozhou, Zhanjiang, Conghua, Qingyuan Lianzhou, Luzhou, Sichuan and Yongchuan, Chongqing. A few days ago, it just passed the on-site identification of new varieties in Guangdong Province.
Original title: "A new fruit is born! Scientists in China have crossed two fruits to produce new offspring … What’s that smell? 》
