Effect of pollination methods on yield and fruit quality of Barhy date palm under Aswan conditions

Abstract EN

Pollination is a critical process in date palms production series that affect yield and fruit quality.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of different pollination methods (spray pollen grain with zinc, boric or ascorbic acid solution) on yield and fruit quality of Barhy date palm.

This study was conducted at Kom Ombo, Aswan Governorate, Egypt during 2019 and 2020 seasons.

Results showed that most beneficial treatment in this concern is spraying female spathes with 0.5 to 1 g pollen grains plus 1 g zinc or ascorbic acid/L water which gave economical yield with good fruit quality.

Moreover, it distinguished to save time, effort, labor, cost and more practical to it is a promising technique in the future.

Key words: Barhy date palm, pollen grain, suspension, pollination, thinning, fruit quality.

Date palm is a dioecious, perennial, diploid and mono-cotyledon plant (Zhao et al.

, 2012).

It is one of the main crops to grow in arid land of most countries of the Middle East and North Africa and affects the high proportion of the economics of these countries (FAO, 2016).