Improving fruit quality and yield of zaghloul and samany date cultivars by spraying with silicon nutrient

الملخص EN

The present study carried out during 2011 and 2012 seasons on “Zaghloul” and “Samany” date palm cultivars grown on new reclaimed sandy soil, at New Asuit City.

Egypt, to investigate the effect of spraying with two sources of micronutrient Silicon (KSi 10 % (A1) and K2O 10%+ SiO2 25 % (A2) on fruit retention, bunch weight , total yield as well as some physical and chemical fruit properties.

The two Silicon materials sprayed once, twice and thrice one week after pollination and 60 and 120 days later, respectively.

In general, inflorescences spraying with A1 and A2 sources at 0.8% one time (one week after pollination) caused a significant increase in fruit retention percentages as compared with control treatment in the two studied cultivars during both seasons.

Also, extending and repeating spraying times after pollination caused a significant increase in fruit retention, bunch weight, total yield, fruit weight, fruit dimensions and fruit content of TSS, total and reducing sugars in both studied cultivars.

Palms that have been sprayed three times with K2O 10%+ SiO2 25 % (A2) produced the highest yield components (fruit retention, bunch weight and total yield), fruit weight and dimensions as compared with other treatments on both cultivars during both seasons.

The chemical fruit properties (TSS % as well as total and reducing sugars %) under such treatments were higher than those under KSi 10 % (A1) treatments in “Zaghgloul” fruits while the opposite trend observed in “Samany” fruits treated with KSi 10 % (A1) where it was more effective on improving chemical fruit properties than K2O 10%+ SiO2 25 % treatments.

No significant differences were found between all silicon treatments and control on seed weight and fruit content of tannins.

Generally, the obtained results concluded that spraying “Zaghloul” and “Samany” inflorescences three times with K2O 10%+ SiO2 25 % (A2) as a source of potassium silicate was useful to gave a high yield /palm with high fruit quality and could be consider as a recommended treatment under conditions of this experiment.