Back to Contents

Pak. J. Bot., 49(1): 119-123, 2017.

FREE FULL TEXT PDF

IMPACT OF POLLINATION BY POLLEN-GRAIN-WATER SUSPENSION SPRAY

ON YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY OF SEGAE DATE PALM

CULTIVAR (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L.)

SOLIMAN, S.S.^{1 ,2*}, A.I. ALEBIDI¹, A.M. AL-SAIF¹, R.S. AL-OBEED.¹ AND A.N. AL-BAHELLY¹

¹Plant Production Dept., College of Food & Agric. Sciences, King Saud University

²Department of Horticultural Crops Technology, National Research Centre, Cairo, Dokki, Egypt

Box 2460, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

^*Corresponding author’s email: said_soliman@hotmail.com

Abstract

This study was carried out for both successive seasons 2013-2014, 2014-2015 at Riyadh, Kingdome of Saudi Arabia. The impact of pollen grain-water suspension spray at different concentrations on fruit retained, bunch weight, yield and fruit quality were examined on Segae date palm cultivar. Spray pollination at 2 g pollen +3 g sugar/liter followed by spray pollination at 2 g pollen/liter gave higher physical properties and lower fruit retained. Spray pollination at 2 g pollen +3 g sugar/liter followed by traditional pollination (control) gave the highest bunch weight and yield compared to the application other treatments in both seasons. Spray pollination at 3 g pollen + 2 g sugar/liter followed by spray pollination at 2 g pollen/liter  and spray pollination at 2 g pollen +3 g sugar/liter followed by spray pollination at 2 g pollen/liter treatments were significantly increase total sugar percentage compared to other treatments and control in the first and second seasons, respectively. Acidity percentages were significantly increased with spray pollination at 2 g pollen/liter followed by spray pollination at 3 g pollen/liter compared to other treatment and control in the second season. Moisture content percentages were significantly increased with traditional pollination (control) as compared to other treatments in both seasons. Spray pollination at 2 g pollen +3 g sugar/liter treatment produced highest fruit quality and could be considered as a recommended treatment in such experiment.

Key words: Date palm, Pollination, Pollen grain, Water, Fruit quality.