Nutritional status of some date palm cultivars and their relationships with fruit mineral contents

Abstract EN

This investigation was carried out to study the nutritional status of four date palm cultivars namely Zaghloul, Samany, Hayany and Halawy during 1987 and 1988 seasons.

The results revealed that Zaghloul cultivar had the highest leaf K and Na in both seasons and Mg in the first one only.

Zaghloul and Halawy cultivars had the highest leaf N and P.

whereas Samany cultivar contained the lowest leaf N and Na.

No significant differ- ences were found among leaf Ca, Fe, Zn and Mn contents of the different date palm cultivars.

Leaf contents of Ca and Na increased, whereas the contents of N, P.

K and Mn generally decreased as the season advanced.

Leaf Mg, Cu and Zn contents were not affected by sampling dates, whereas Fe did not show a de- finite trend throughout the growing season.

The roots of Zaghloul contained higher K and Na than other cultivars.

In the meantime, Zaghloul and Hayany cultivars had significantly higher root P than Samany and Halawy cultivars, Hayany and Halawy cultivars had sig- nificantly higher root K as compared with Samany cultivar.

Correlations coefficient between leaf and fruit nutrient contents of the studied date palm cultivars generally varied from one cultivar to another and these correlations were significant in some cases.