Foliar nutrition of date palm: advances and applications. A review

Abstract

Foliar fertilization is one of the crucial ways for continued cultivation of date palm, obtaining the best results of growth and production, in addition to the possibility to reduce damage from abiotic stress. Although subjected date palm to an annual fertilization program, it faces some challenges, including low soil availability for nutrients, dryness of the soil surface, low root activity in the breeding period, soil alkalinity, as well as water scarcity in areas of cultivation, and symptoms of deficiency of some elements. This review attempts to shed light on the importance of using leaf fertilization, demonstrating the successful technique and positive results, and proving the ability of date palm cells to absorb nutrients, similar to other trees, and interact with chemical and biological fertilizers. Besides, the leaflet’s possibility of absorbing various nutrients, chelated iron, biostimulants, antioxidants, and nano-fertilization, are presented.

Biostimulants as Innovative Tools to Boost Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Performance under Drought, Salinity, and Heavy Metal(Oid)s’ Stresses: A Concise Review

“…Biostimulants, such as AMF, PGPR, and compost and manure, are regarded as potential substitutes for synthetic and chemical fertilizers, which can ensure food security and enable a sustainable product, thus paving the way to new approaches aiming at improving agricultural productivity [86,87]. Available data corroborate the positive impact of biostimulants on date palm, especially in terms of resilience to abiotic stress [88] (Table 2). In a study conducted by [30], the authors observed that growth traits, particularly the leaf number, plant height, and leaf area, were improved in date palm seedlings of the "Boufggous" variety subjected to drought, thanks to inoculation with Glomus monosporus, G. clarum, and G. deserticola.…”

The Physiological Effect of Foliar Spraying of Zinc Nanoparticles in Reducing the Harmful Effects of Cadmium on Faba Bean Plants

“…Lessening the poisonous effects of excessive fertilizer application. Enhancing the activity of antioxidant enzymes to protect plants from the damaging effects of reactive oxygen species (Ragab et al, 2022;Shareef et al, 2023). According to previous studies, foliar application of Zno NPs reduces ROS by raising antioxidant enzyme levels.…”