China stands as the world’s leading producer of litchi, with the largest cultivation area and highest global yield, making it a distinctive and economically vital fruit crop. However, the industry faces severe postharvest losses driven by interrelated biological and environmental factors, including a concentrated harvest window under high temperature and humidity, rapid pericarp browning, and high susceptibility to microbial decay. These challenges collectively shorten shelf life, diminish marketability, and constrain the sustainable development and value-adding potential of the litchi sector. Despite over five decades of research into postharvest preservation, scalable and commercially viable integrated solutions remain limited. This review systematically synthesizes recent advances in understanding the physiological and biochemical mechanisms of postharvest deterioration in litchi. In this review, current preservation technologies—spanning physical, chemical, biocontrol, and packaging approaches—are critically evaluated for their efficacy, limitations, and practical applicability. Furthermore, key barriers to commercialization are identified, including economic feasibility, regulatory hurdles, and technology-transfer gaps. Looking forward, we propose innovative and sustainable strategies designed to overcome these obstacles, with emphasis on emerging technologies, green preservation methods, and integrated supply-chain interventions. The insights provided aim to establish a theoretical foundation for developing next-generation, tailored preservation protocols and to support the continued advancement and global integration of the litchi industry. • Synthesizes physiological drivers of litchi postharvest losses: rapid pericarp browning, microbial decay, and heat–humidity stress in a concentrated harvest season. • Critically evaluates preservation technologies (physical, chemical, biocontrol, packaging), highlighting efficacy gaps and scalability challenges. • Identifies key commercialization barriers: cost, regulation, and technology-transfer limitations in current systems. • Proposes AI-driven and smart systems as next-generation solutions, featuring non-destructive intelligent sorting for quality grading and real-time supply-chain optimization.
Liang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.
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