Effect of Pollination Technique on Agronomic and Physicochemical Characteristics of Date Palm Fruits (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cv. ‘Deglet Nour’

• DOI: 10.7235/hort.20220012
• Publication Date: 2023-09-18T06:52:56Z
• Authors: Kadri Karim; Aounallah Karim; Hammadi Hamza; Abdelhafidh Manar; Chahine Karmous; Taoufik Bettaieb
• Keywords: Phoenix dactylifera; Pollination management; Hand-pollination; Open pollination

In Tunisian oases, pollination remains a traditional process and the male’ spikelets are manually inserted into female inflorescences. The drawback of this ancestral practice forced us to look for new alternative technique improving date palm productivity. present investigation aimed compare agronomic biochemical characteristics ‘Deglet Nour’ variety following three techniques: handmade technique, dusting (spraying pollen grains by powder) water suspension technique. results affirmed that was most efficient followed pollination. Sprinkling showed highest fruit set rate (82.21%), retention (68.34%) yield per bunch (5.5 kg) with lowest number partenocarpic fruits (less than 2%). Besides, data revealed techniques were not involved in physicochemical pomological during different stages maturation. However, other studies can be carried out explore these on varieties growing oasis systems.