Effect of pollinator strands number on fruit set, bunch weight and fruit quality of “Sewy” date palm

Abstract

Pollination is important process for date palm in terms of their influence on fruit development, quality and yield, as well as the organization's yearly tree bearing. The development of pollination technology, which results in a reasonable level of fruit set with the use of a small number of pollen grains, is necessary to improve the productivity of date palms, especially in arid conditions. This experiment was done on Sewy date palm for both progressive seasons 2020 and 2021 at Pomology department's farm, Assiut Governorate, Egypt. The influence of strand number on fruit Physico-chemical properties was tested. Seven levels of pollination were applied as 2, 4, 6,8,10 and 12 strands/ inflorescences.The results illustrated that the initial and final fruit set percentages, bunch weight and final crop/palm increased significantly by increasing pollination levels in both experimental seasons by treatment of 14 strands/inflorescence compared to the check treatment (8 strands/inflorescence), whereas; fruit, seed and pulp weight; TSS, acidity and sugars content decreased significantly by the same treatment (except for acidity in the 1 st season and non-reducing sugars in the 2 nd season).Hence, it could be concluded that pollination with 14 male strands should be possible to gain an inclusive yield and quality and increase the efficiency of the pollination process of Sewy date palms.