Morphological characterization of nine date palm varieties (Phoenix dactylifera L.) of Panjgur, Balochistan, Pakistan

Abstract

The current study is based on morphological characterization of nine varieties of the most valuable edible fruit Phoenix dactylifera of Panjgur Balochistan, Pakistan. A total of 25 morphological characters (Qualitative and Quantitative) were subjected to analyse for correlation Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to select genotypes and traits for future breeding program. The present study revealed that the total area 15594 hectares is under date's cultivation and approximately 87518 tons dates produced annually. Results depicted that the edible fruit P. dactylifera has a great potential and considered as economically important fruit crop of the area. The plant is used by the communities of the area for multi-purposes. Fruit is not only used for nutrition but also used medicinally. Markets are not well developed poor packaging effects the export of good quality dates. The Morpho-anatomical characters of date palm can be used for commercial utilization of best variety date palms production.