Influence of pollen source in some qualitative characteristics of date palm fruits propagated by offshoots and tissue culture techniques

Abstract

The current study was carried out in the private orchard in Kitiabn region in Basrah governorate to study the effect of two male cultivars ( Ghanamy akhdar, Khikri adi) and two methods of date palm propagation (offshoots and tissue culture techniques) on physico-chemical characteristics of date palm fruits during the developing stages (Habbabuk, Kimri and Khalal). Twelve trees of the Barhi cultivar were selected as similar as possible in age (5 years), growth and had the same agricultural practices. Six flower clusters (spadix) were selected from each tree and removed the rest. An experiment was designed according to Randomized Block Design (RCBD) with three replicates and the mean differences were compared by using the least significant difference (L.S.D) test at the probability level of 0.05. Results showed that Barhi date palm pollinated with Khikri adi pollen grains and propagated by offshoots were superior in the most studied characteristics at habbabuk stage. At Kimri stage, the date palms propagated by offshoots and pollinated with Ghanamy akhdar was the best in the most studied characteristics, while at Khalal stage results indicated to the superiority of Ghanamy akhdar pollen grains and tissue culture techniques method in most of the physico-chemical characteristics.