Abstract:

Fruits of 25 litchi varieties were used as materials to study fruit quality, major components, physical-chemical parameters, soluble protein, total phenols and total antioxidant capacity. Results indicated that significant differences of juice rate, contents of total soluble solids and total acids, edible pulp rate, and sugar/acid ratio in fruits of different litchi varieties were observed. Huidonghongyan exhibited the highest juice rate and Tianyan the lowest, which were 70.76 % and 32.77 %, respectively. The highest content of total soluble solids was observed in Shuijingqiu to be 19.57 %; in contrast, the lowest content of total soluble solids in Jianjianghongnuo was 12.00 %. In addition, obvious differences in polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD) activities, and color stability were also observed in different litchi varieties. PPO activity was ranged from 0 to 35.00 U and POD activity from 15.3 to 6013 U. The color difference (ΔE) was ranged from 0.39 to 17.20 at 30 ℃ and from 1.64 to 38. 42 at 100 ℃. Preliminary evaluation indicated that Huidonghongyan, Nuomici, Yuanzhi, Heiye, Zhongshanzhuangyuanhong and Baitangyin were excellent litchi varieties for litchi juice and litchi wine making.

Key words: litchi, variety, processing characteristics