Improving 'Piyarom' date palm fruit quality with fruit thinning and bunch covering treatments

Babak Madani,Ali Shahriyari,Abdolmajid Mirzaalian Dastjerdy

doi:10.36253/ahsc-9548

Babak Madani, Ali Shahriyari + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.36253/ahsc-9548

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Abstract

‘Piyarom’ dates are one of the most important commercial date cultivars grown in Iran but fruit quality and postharvest losses can be a problem. Thinning and the use of bunch covers were examined to improve the date fruit quality. Three different levels of fruit thinning were applied (without thinning, removal of one third of total strands from terminal tips during pollination and removal of one third of terminal tips of central strands in early kimri). In addition, the effects of bunch covers were assessed with the use of polyethylene bunch covers that were applied in the early stages of Khalal. The results showed that bunch covering reduced the lightness of the fruit but increased bunch weight, fruit length, total antioxidant activity and total phenolic compounds compared to the control. Thinning during pollination increased the weight of the fruit compared to the control. The thinning during Kimri stage increased the percentage of Tamar and ascorbic acid content. These results show that the use of covers play a positive role in increasing quality and bunch weight and thinning at both pollination and Kimri ripening stage is recommended to produce high quality ‘Piyarom’ dates.

Highlights

Date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are an ancient horticultural crop cultivated for its sweet fruit which are rich in nutrients, antioxidants and phenolic compounds (Hussain et al, 2016)
The results showed that bunch covering reduced the lightness of the fruit but increased bunch weight, fruit length, total antioxidant activity and total phenolic com pounds compared to the control
These results show that the use of covers play a positive role in increasing quality and bunch weight and thinning at both pollination and Kimri ripening stage is recommend ed to produce high quality ‘Piyarom’ dates

Summary

Introduction

Date palms (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are an ancient horticultural crop cultivated for its sweet fruit which are rich in nutrients, antioxidants and phenolic compounds (Hussain et al, 2016). Piyarom is one of the most impor tant commercial semidry dates in Iran which is con sumed at tamar ripening stage and fruit reaches full maturity It is widely grown in Hormozgan province of Iran with increasing export production. Some date palm cultivars can react contrari ly to the different treatments of thinning for exam ple, Awad and AlQurashi (2015) reported that thin ning 510 cm bunch four weeks after pollination in ‘Barhee’ date did not affect the qualitative characters of fruit. Ahmed et al (2019) showed that thinning 1/3 terminal tips of central strands in early Kimri stage of fruit development of ‘Zaghlool’ decreased titrable acidity and increased soluble solid content. Awad and AlQurashi (2012) concluded that bunch craft bagging after pollination increased bunch weight, TA and TSS, ascorbic acid and decreased total phenols and Rutab percentage of ‘Barhee’ date. This study assessed the effects of both date fruit thinning and the use of bunch covers on the bunch weight and quality of ‘Piyarom’ dates over two seasons

Materials and Methods

Results and Discussion

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