Impact of different times and methods of pollination on fruit set and productivity of Barhi date palm

Abstract EN

This study investigated the effect of different pollination methods, traditional pollination( hand pollination), spraying pollen suspension and dusting pollen and different pollination times (at same spathe cracking day and after two days from spathe cracking) on fruit set (% ), yield as well as some fruit physical and chemical properties of “Barhi” date palm cultivar.

The used palms grown in new reclaimed sandy soil at private orchard located at Al Assiuty valley, Assiut, Egypt during two consecutive seasons (2020 and 2021).

Results cleared that the most effective treatments in this investigation is using hand pollination at same spathe cracking day followed by spraying pollen suspension at same spathe cracking day, these treatments gave the highest fruit set % with economical yield and high fruit quality with high content of total and reducing sugars.

However, delaying the pollination two days after spathe cracking resulted in decreasing fruit set, yield and fruit quality compared with pollination at the same spathe cracking day.