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INFLUENCE  OF  POLLEN  SOURCE  AND  POLLINATION  FREQUENCY ON FRUIT DROP, YIELD AND QUALITY OF DATE PALM (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L.) CV. DHAKKI

MUHAMMAD SHAFIQUE¹, AHMAD S. KHAN^1*, AMAN U. MALIK¹, MUHAMAMD SHAHID², ISHTIAQ A. RAJWANA³, BASHARAT A.  SALEEM⁴, MUHAMMAD AMIN¹ AND IFTIKHAR AHMAD¹

Abstract: The study was undertaken to determine the influence of pollen sources and pollination frequency on fruit drop, yield and quality of date palm cv. ‘Dhakki’. Three ‘Dhakki’ female trees and three different male trees (M-1, M-2 and M-3) were selected for the experiment. On each female tree six spathes were chosen and were pollinated with pollens collected from one of the selected male parent. Out of six, three spathes were pollinated once and other three were pollinated twice (second pollination was done two days after first pollination). Data were collected for physico-chemical characteristics of the fruit including fruit drop, fruit weight, flesh weight, seed weight, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS: TA ratio, sugars, level of ascorbic acid and total phenols. The results indicated that pollen source significantly affected the fruit drop percentage as minimum fruit drop was observed from the tree pollinated with M-3. Physical properties of the fruit like fruit weight, flesh weight and seed weight were significantly improved with pollination from M-1 compared to other male trees. After harvest chemical quality parameters like TSS and TSS: TA ratio, ascorbic acid contents, and reducing sugars were highest in fruit pollinated with M-3 and M-2 respectively. Whereas lowest level of TA was recorded in fruits pollinated with M-3. Pollen source and number of pollinations did not significantly affect the level of total phenols in the date palm fruit. Total and non-reducing sugars were significantly higher in the fruit pollinated twice. In conclusion, the pollen source had significant impact on the physico-chemical properties of date palm cv. ‘Dhakki’. The results suggested that best pollen source (male trees) should be selected for their respective female trees to get most desired characteristics.

¹Institute of Horticultural Sciences, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

²Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad

³Department of Horticulture, Univ. College of Agri., BZU, Multan, Pakistan

⁴Hill Fruit Research Station, Sunny Bank, Murree, Punjab, Pakistan

*Corresponding author: ahmad_khan157@yahoo.com