Abstract
The date palm Phoenix dactylifera L. is the most important crop in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom produces nearly a million tons of dates annually from an estimated 21 million date palms. Trials conducted at the National Date Palm Research Centre, Al Hassa, Saudi Arabia to determine the effect of salinity on leaf growth, leaf injury and biomass production in date palm revealed that increasing soil salinity levels adversely impacted growth and biomass of date palm, besides causing leaf injury. However, Saudi Arabia’s premier date cultivar (Khalas) was the most salt tolerant cultivar tested in this study as it recorded the best leaf growth, least leaf injury and significantly lowest reduction in biomass upon application of salt treatments.
Highlights
The experiments were carried out at the experimental2000,000 km[2], which is about 80% of the total Arabian Peninsula. The country lies between latitude 15.2° and 32.6° North and longitude 34.1° and 55.5° East
Materials and methodsThe Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) covers an area ofThe experiments were carried out at the experimental2000,000 km2, which is about 80% of the total Arabian Peninsula
More than 400 different date palm cultivars are reported to exist in Saudi Arabia (Anonymous, 2006)
Summary
2000,000 km[2], which is about 80% of the total Arabian Peninsula. The country lies between latitude 15.2° and 32.6° North and longitude 34.1° and 55.5° East. This study is aimed at describing the effects of salinity on leaf growth, leaf injury and biomass production in date palm. Three-year-old offshoots of Khalas, Barhee, and Majdool date palm cultivars were used. The study pertains to the nonbearing stage of date palm cultivars (young offshoots), since adult trees are difficult to partition for detailed nutrient analysis and biomass production. While Khalas is the most popular date palm cultivar in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia where Al-Hassa is located, the cultivar Barhee has high regional preference among farmers of the Gulf countries in the Middle East, while Majdool is an internationally acclaimed date cultivar of North Africa. Statistical analysis A fully randomized block design with factorial combinations of three date palm cultivars and five NaCl levels replicated three times were used to conduct the experiment.
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