Pomegranate Trees Research Articles

Molecular Characterization of Neoscytalidium spp. The Cause of Wilting of Branches and Blackening of the Stem

The study was conducted in the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering Sciences in the laboratories of the Plant Protection Department 2019, with the aim of diagnosing the pathogen of Branch Wilt and blackening of stems, outwardly and molecularly. The results of isolation from infected Malus domestica, Morus alba, Punica granatum, Citrus sinensis, C. aurantium, Ficus elastic, Ficus benjamina, Ricinus communis and Populus euphratica trees showed that twelve isolates of Neoscytalidium spp. were obtained. As a percentage of the frequency of the fungus in the visited orchards of apple trees (Al-Tarmiya and Saffronia) and berries (Al-Tarmiya) 88.9%, and in pomegranates (Al-Tarmiya) and sour oranges(Al-Jadriya) 66.6%, while the lowest frequency was recorded in orange trees (Al-Jadriya), which amounted to 33.3%. The results of the nucleotide sequencing of the isolates of the fungus Neoscytalidium spp. The presence of three types of fungi: N. novaehollandiae isolated from apple, Morus and pomegranate trees, Ficus, Castor and N. dimidiatum isolated from apple and Morus trees, Populus and N. hyalinum isolated from apple, orange, sour orange and ficus trees. The apple isolates 1, 2, and 3, Morus isolate 1, the pomegranate isolate, and the Ficus isolate showed a 100% congruence rate, while the Morus 2, orange, ficus, and Populus isolates showed a congruence rate of 99%, while the orange isolate congruence 98%, and the Castor isolate recorded a congruence rate of 97% with the isolates. Global registered in the International Gen Bank. The nucleotide sequences of the three species N. hyalinum, N. novaehollandiae, and N. dimidiatum in the International Genebank Organization, and this is the first record of these species in Iraq on the hosts isolated from them in this study.

Response of Pomegranate Trees to Herd Manure Addition and Spraying with Fulvic Acid and Brassinolide

This experiment was conducted on “Salemy” pomegranate cultivar, ten years old, in two private orchards in Tikrit, village of Albu Hayaa’a, and governorate of Kirkuk - Hawija district, village of Suleiman al-Gharb, for agricultural season 2022, to study the effects of adding herd waste, fulvic acid spraying, and growth regulator Brassinolide on vegetative growth, yield, leaves, and kernels’ nutrient content. The experiment was applied with three factors; first factor is addition of herd waste (O) and in three levels is without the addition of (O0) and addition of 5 kg.tree-1 (O5) and addition of 10 kg.tree-1 (O10), second factor is spraying fulvic acid (F) with two concentrations, without spraying (F0) and a concentration of 4 g.L-1 (F4), and third factor is spraying with three concentrations of plant growth regulator brassinolide (B), without spraying (B0) and 0.15 mg.L-1 (B0.15) and a concentration of 0.3 mg.L-1 (B0.3). The treatments were designed as a factorial experiment according to randomized complete block design (R.C.B.D) with three replications and one tree for one experimental unit. The experimental results showed that herd manure fertilizers at 10 kg.Tree-1(O10) significantly increased in shoot length of 55.44 and 72.47 cm, highest leaf area of 6.28 and 7.55 cm2, leaf nitrogen content of 1.522 and 1.594 % and highest leaf phosphor content of 0.357 and 0.430 %, for locations of Tikrit and Hawija, respectively. Results also showed that fulvic acid spray especially at 4 g.L-1 (F4), showed significant superiority in increased in shoot length of 54.97 and 69.23 cm, leaf area of 6.21 and 7.24 cm2, leaf nitrogen content of 1.516 and 1.596 % and leaf phosphor content of 0.351 and 0.412 % for locations of Tikrit and Hawija, respectively. Brassinolide spray also affected, especially spraying at 0.3 mg.L-1 and gave highest increasing of shoot length of 54.84 and 73.73 cm, highest leaf area of 6.19 and 7.78 cm2, leaf nitrogen content of 1.547 and 1.627 % and highest leaf phosphor content of 0.377 and 0.439 % for locations of Tikrit and Hawija, respectively. Twice and triple interactions between study factors had a significant effect in these traits.

Effect of Adding with Organic Nutrient (Complex-Groop) and Spraying with Kinetin on Some Characteristics of Vegetative Growth and Yield of Pomegranate Trees Punica granatum L. Cv. Salimi

The study was conducted in a private orchard in Owainat region in Tikrit city of Salah al-Din Governorate - Iraq, during the growing season 2022. To study the effect of adding the organic nutrient Complex-Groop at three concentrations (0, 125, 250) g Tree−1 in two batches, the first on 2/15 and the second on 5/15 – 2022, and spraying with growth regulator of Kinetin at three concentrations (0, 75, 150) ml L−1 with three sprays during the growing season, where the first spray was on 3/15, the second on 4/15, and the third on 5/15 on some characteristics of vegetative growth and yield of Pomegranate trees Salimi cultivar. The experiment was carried out according to the randomized complete block design as a factorial experiment with three replications and two trees for each experimental unit. The results were summarized as follows: The addition of the organic nutrient Complex-Groop at two concentrations of 125 and 250 g Tree−1 resulted in a significant increase in leaf area and chlorophyll content. The interaction between the levels of the organic nutrient and the growth regulator Kinetin significantly affected all the studied traits.

Unraveling the mechanisms behind salt stress alleviation and enhanced fruit storability in pomegranate through triacontanol treatment

Salt stress is a significant factor that leads to various detrimental effects on pomegranate trees. This study was undertaken with the primary objective of developing a treatment strategy aimed at mitigating the adverse impacts of salinity in fields, and its negative reflections on the post-harvest quality of pomegranate fruit. At the commencement of the study, we utilized response surface methodology (RSM) to assess a range of triacontanol (TRA) concentrations along with different spray frequencies. Our investigation revealed that applying 10 and 20 µM TRA three times proved to be the most effective treatments. Accordingly, the effect of these concentrations was studied in depth. The treatment with TRA at concentrations of 10 and 20 µM demonstrated significant positive effects. TRA effectively mitigated the harmful impacts of salinity, preserved the plant's nutrient and antioxidant content, and led to an increase in productivity. Moreover, TRA treatments had a notable effect on enhancing post-harvest storability of fruits during storage at 5 ̊C and 90 % RH for 12 weeks. TRA treatments resulted in higher concentrations of mineral nutrients (N, P, K, and Ca), porphyrin concentration, relative water contents, activities of CAT, POD, and SOD, glycine betaine, proline, amino acids, total phenolics, and total carbohydrates, additionally, TRA treatments led to increased fruit weight and fruit yield compared to the control group. Moreover, TRA treatments attained lower hydrogen peroxide, membrane permeability, malondialdehyde, Na, and Cl compared with control. Indeed, the positive effects of TRA treatments extended to fruit storability. TRA treatments resulted in a notable decrease in the percentage of decay, weight loss, and softness. Furthermore, TRA treatments demonstrated efficacy in preserving TSS, husk color, ascorbic acid, and anthocyanin content in the arils. These combined benefits highlight the potential of using TRA as a practical and effective method to alleviate salt stress and enhance pomegranate fruit storability.

A Machine Learning Approach to Pomegranate Leaf Disease Identification

Pomegranate is a fruit with the highest yield and the greatest geographic distribution in Asia. On the other hand, the plants are susceptible to a diverse range of illnesses as a consequence of a number of factors, which leads to the total destruction of the plants and a harvest that is significantly reduced. In order to avoid reductions in agricultural output, it is necessary to diagnose plant diseases as quickly as is practically possible. It is a difficult and time-consuming task to manually monitor the progress of diseases on pomegranate leaves. Therefore, Deep Learning is utilised in the diagnosis of diseases affecting pomegranate trees (DL). The goal of this study is to develop an algorithm for automatically diagnosing diseases affecting pomegranate plants based on images of the plant's leaf structures. The process of a disease detection system includes the gathering of data, the analysis of that data, the categorization of gathered images, and their subsequent deployment. The Mendeley database is utilised in order to generate images of pomegranate leaves in both healthy and diseased states. After that, the original, unaltered raw image is polished. Two different DL models, AlexNet and VGG-16, are put to use in this classification technique. To determine the optimal model, it is necessary to do accurate and loss-oriented measurements. According to the measurements, AlexNet does a good job of recognising diseases that affect leaf tissue. Later, an AlexNet-based smartphone app is developed to assist farmers in performing disease detection on pomegranates without the assistance of professionals. This software is intended to help farmers save time and money.

Searching for a deficit irrigation strategy to save water and improve fruit quality without compromising pomegranate production

Deficit irrigation (DI) strategies have frequently studied in drought resistant crops to optimise water-use-efficiency and save water. Four different DI strategies were studied in fifteen-year-old pomegranate trees (Punica granatum (L.) cv. Mollar de Elche) during the season of 2021: irrigation at 120 % of ETc during the whole season (control, C); irrigation at 50 % of ETc during the whole season (SDI); irrigation at 50 % of ETc during the linear fruit growth phase (RDIfg) and irrigation at 25 % of ETc during the ripening phase (RDIr). The effects of DI treatments on water relations, gas exchange, canopy temperature, yield and fruit quality were analysed. Water status of pomegranate responded closely to changes in soil water content. The reduction of leaf osmotic potential and leaf osmotic potential at full turgor to SDI, RDIfg and RDIr treatments indicated an osmotic adjustment. The stem water potential and the crop water stress index were more sensitive to water stress than gas exchange. SDI treatment increased non-marketable fruit weight and number. Nevertheless, RDIfg treatment could be considered a non-critical period because of the low sensitivity to water stress of trees, yield maintenance and the increase of nutritional organic compounds in fruits, saving 27 % of irrigation water. The application of RDIr produced the highest content of bioactive compounds, saving 8 % of water saving with a slight increase of non-marketable fruit number and weight. This suggests that the intensity and duration in which the deficit irrigation was applied could set the threshold irrigation conditions above which pomegranate production could be negatively affected.

Nondestructive estimation of pomegranate tree biomass by using allometric equation

Nondestructive estimation of pomegranate tree biomass by using allometric equation

Conventional vs. nano-micronutrients as foliar fertilization for enhancing the quality and nutritional status of pomegranate fruits

Currently, nanotechnology is widely used in agriculture and horticulture. Nanofertilizers are essential for encouraging vegetative growth and flowering, as well as enhancing productivity and fruit quality. These nanoparticles are viewed as growth promoters as well. The current study was therefore carried out during the two successive seasons of 2021 and 2022 on 14-year-old trees grown in clay soil in a field experiment at the Pomology Department Research orchard, Faculty of Agriculture, Assiut University, Egypt. The effects of conventional vs. nano-micronutrients as foliar fertilizers on the fruit yield, quality, and mineral nutrition status of pomegranate trees were studied. The foliar application of all treatments on pomegranate trees remarkably increased yield and physical properties of fruits as well as improved the levels of total soluble solids percentage, anthocyanin pigment, flavonol, total phenols, antioxidant activity and nutrients status compared with the controls during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The lowest fruit cracking percentages were obtained by the spraying of nano-micronutrients (4.33–5.70 %) compared with the other treatments and the control, which gave the highest percentages (10.45–11.43 %). The highest increments in yield, physical properties of fruits and levels of total soluble solids percentage, anthocyanin pigment, flavonol, total phenols, and antioxidant activity were noticed by the spraying of nano-micronutrients especially at 1000 and/or 1500 µg mL−1. It could be concluded that the use of nanofoliar fertilization in pomegranate cultivation may improve the yield, quality, and nutritional status of pomegranate fruits.

Improvement of Fruit Quality and Phytochemical Components of Pomegranate by Spraying with B2O3 and ZnO Nanoparticles

Pomegranate is one of the most important and widely distributed trees. Boron and zinc are important nutrients for plant growth and fruit quality. Nanotechnology has emerged as one of the most innovative scientific fields in agriculture. This study was conducted to describe the changes in the physiochemical characteristics (weight, diameter, length, firmness and color), as well as the phytochemicals attributes (total phenolics, total flavonoids, ascorbic acid, anthocyanin and antioxidant %) and minerals contents, of pomegranates fruits of the ‘Wonderful’ cultivar as a result of spraying pomegranate trees using nanomaterials (zinc oxide (ZnONPs) and boron oxide (B2O3NPs)). In three successive developmental stages (full bloom, 6 weeks after full bloom and one month before harvest time), the trees were sprayed with 0.25, 0.5 and 1 g/L ZnONPs, as well as 0.25, 0.5 and 1 g/L B2O3NPs during the 2021 and 2022 seasons. The application of ZnONPs and B2O3NPs influenced the qualitative characteristics of the fruits in the studied seasons. The highest marketable % was observed for the 0.50 and 1 g/L ZnONPs and 1 g/L B2O3NPs compared to the other treatments. Also, a positive effect was recorded for the ZnONPs and B2O3NPs on the fruits’ physical properties. All of the ZnONP and B2O3NP treatments resulted in increasing the total phenolic, flavonoid, anthocyanin and ascorbic acid contents and the antioxidant activity in the pomegranate juices. In conclusion, our results suggest that spraying pomegranate trees with ZnONPs and B2O3NPs improves the marketable fruit, enhances the fruit quality and increases the bioactive components and antioxidant activity.

Effect of Irrigation Levels on Growth and Fruiting of Manfalouty Pomegranate Trees Grown in New Reclaimed Region

Effect of Irrigation Levels on Growth and Fruiting of Manfalouty Pomegranate Trees Grown in New Reclaimed Region

Effect of Soil Conditioners on Growth and Fruiting of Manfalouty Pomegranate Trees Grown in New Reclaimed Region

Effect of Soil Conditioners on Growth and Fruiting of Manfalouty Pomegranate Trees Grown in New Reclaimed Region

Leaf Spot Disease on Punica granatum Caused by Alternaria alternata in China.

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), which is native to central Asia, is considered as one of the most renowned commercial fruit trees in the world. The planting area in China is roughly 120 thousand hectares. In June 2020, symptoms of leaf spot on P. granatum appeared in Nanyang City (32º40´34˝N, 111º44´20˝E), Henan Province, with an incidence rate of 35% in several 3.3-hectare orchards. Initially, the lesions showed as round or subrounded brown spots on affected leaves. The spots then progressively developed into irregular lesions with distinct yellow halos surrounding them. Parts of the lesions were weakly zonate, which finally led to leaf withering and falling off. Diseased tissues were cut into 5×5 mm2 pieces, which were surface sterilized with 75% ethanol solution for 30 s, washed 3 times in sterilized water, and put on potato dextrose agar (PDA) plates supplemented with 50 μg ml-1 streptomycin. A total of 16 purified fungal isolates with similar phenotypic features were obtained. Three randomly chosen isolates SLY11, SLY24, and SLY25 were utilized for the investigation. Fungal colonies on PDA were first white to gray and later mycelium became olive green to blackish brown. To examine the morphological properties of conidia, we utilized potato carrot agar (PCA) culture medium and incubated it at 23°C under a 12-hour light/dark alternation. Conidia were obclavate or spheroidal, dark brown, with 3 to 5 transverse septa and 1 to 4 longitudinal septa. Conidiophores were septate, solitary, and measured 22.7 (±4.64) × 10.6 (±2.15) μm (n=50), with a conical beak length of 0 to 5.5 μm. The rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS), translation elongation factor 1-alpha gene (TEF1), β-tubulin gene (TUB), and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene (GAPDH) were amplified using primer pairs ITS1/ITS4, EF1-728F/EF1-986R, Bt2a/Bt2b, and GDF1/GDF2 from genomic DNA. Sequences were submitted to GenBank with accession numbers OL840230, OL840231, OL840232 for ITS, OL982540, OL982541, OL982542 for TEF1, OL982543, OL982544, OL982545 for TUB, OL862608, OL862609, OL862610 for GAPDH sequences of isolates SLY11, SLY24, and SLY25, respectively. BLASTn analysis of ITS (OL840230), TEF1 (OL982540), TUB (OL982543), GAPDH (OL862608) sequences indicated 100, 99.59, 99.68, and 100% similarity to the sequences of Alternaria alternata strain HC-2 (MT644140), BJFA-1 (MK895958), CS36-5 (KY814630), and ag1 (KP057228) in GenBank. Isolates SLY11, SLY24, and SLY25 formed a clade with the type strains CBS 130265 and CBS 130258 of A. alternata in phylogenetic trees established, clearly seperating from other Alternaria spp. The morphological features and molecular analyses supported the isolates as members of A. alternata. To validate the pathogenicity of the isolates, ten healthy leaves of 3-year-old potted pomegranate trees were utilized for testing and inoculated with conidial suspension (106 conidia ml-1), 20 µl each leaf. Control plants were inoculated with sterilized water. An additional pathogenicity test was repeated on wounded leaves. The inoculated plants were placed at 28°C in a greenhouse (12 h light per day and 90% relative humidity) for 5 days. The pathogenicity testing was conducted three times. Distinct lesions were found on the nonwounded and wounded leaves of inoculated plants after 3 to 5 days. The morphology and ITS sequences of the fungi that were reisolated from each of the inoculated plants were similar to that of the inocula, fulfilling Koch's postulates. Fruit rot of pomegranate induced by A. alternata was not identified in our investigation. A. alternata is reported to induce leaf spot disease on P. granatum in India (Zakir et al. 2009), Israel (Ezra et al. 2010), Spain (Garcia-Jimenez et al. 2014). To our knowledge, this is the first report of A. alternata causing leaf spot disease on P. granatum in China. Severe leaf disease caused by A. alternata can lead to reduced pomegranate yields in the harvest stages. This note will aid in pathogen identification and disease control.

Use of GIS in Selecting Suitable Tree Crop Cultivation Sites in Mountainous Less Favoured Areas: An Example from Greece

The aim of this paper is the selection of suitable tree crop cultivation sites in mountainous less favoured areas, as a forest policy measure under the scope of sustainable development. Ten different crop types were proposed as being most suitable in the study area, Pierion Municipal Unit, which is located in the Municipality of Katerini, in the Pieria Prefecture of Greece. In order to determine the most suitable sites for cultivation, data layers that involved the factors of topography, climate, pedology and geology were derived from existing maps and free-of-charge datasets, so that they could be consequently processed with the aid of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The data processing was performed by following criteria, which were established in accordance with the current literature and were translated into Boolean algebra expressions. The latter helped to identify locations where the values of the factors that were employed were most favourable for the cultivation of walnut trees (Juglans sp.), olive trees (Olea sp.), cherry trees (Prunus sp.), apple (Malus sp.), dogwood trees (Cornus sp.), pomegranate trees (Punica sp.), chestnut trees (Castanea sp.) and other crop types. Moreover, the resulting map indicated that the majority of the suitable sites for cultivation were considered favourable for growing walnut trees (24.9%), followed by cherry trees (19.6%) and olive trees (12.1%). Proposing the most suitable cultivations within the study area contributes to forest policy planning and promotes the sustainable development of mountainous less favoured areas, leading to a more rational management of natural resources, a raised awareness of environmental protection, the maintenance of the local population and income enhancement through the production of high quality crops and sustainable yields.

Impact of pruning and training systems on the growth and productivity of pomegranate trees

Impact of pruning and training systems on the growth and productivity of pomegranate trees

Spraying Effect of some Plant Extracts and Urea on the Growth and Mineral content of Young Pomegranate trees cv. “Wonderful”

Spraying Effect of some Plant Extracts and Urea on the Growth and Mineral content of Young Pomegranate trees cv. “Wonderful”

FTIR spectroscopy-based lipochemical fingerprints involved in pomegranate response to water stress

Pomegranate trees are known for their ability to withstand drought conditions, but there is still much to learn about how water stress affects the lipobiochemical behavior of their seeds. This study aimed to investigate how sustained deficit irrigation (SDI-50), equivalent to 50% of crop evapotranspiration, influences pomegranate seed oil attributes such as phenols, flavonoids, and tannins content, and the seeds’ lipochemical fingerprints compared to fully irrigated trees. At the full ripening stage, pomegranate seeds were analyzed for their oil content, biochemical traits, and vibrational fingerprints using infrared radiation. The results indicated that there was a significant genotypic effect coupled with applied water stress on all the investigated traits. Interestingly, an increasing trend in seed oil yield was observed under water stress conditions compared to the control, with the highest oil yield increase observed in the ‘Zheri Precoce’ fruit seeds. Only two cultivars did not show the same pattern, with the oil yield increase ranging from 8% to 100%. Furthermore, SDI-50 induced a substantial increase in total phenolic content, coupled with a significant genotypic effect, and resulted in an average increase of 7.5%. This increase in total phenolics also correlated with an increase in antioxidant activity across all investigated cultivars. ATR-FTIR fingerprinting revealed eleven spectral fingerprints corresponding to functional groups present in pomegranate seeds oil, with a particular pattern of significant effects of both genotypic and SDI-50 factors. These results suggest that exploiting water scarcity conditions could be a viable approach to improve the quantitative and qualitative attributes of pomegranate seed oil. While there are still several aspects to be investigated further, this study provides a basis for pomegranate processing under water shortage conditions.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) endangers pomegranate trees nearby a copper mine

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is known as an important source of environmental pollution with potentially toxic elements. High concentrations of minerals in soil were observed in a pomegranate garden nearby a copper mine, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Iran. In the vicinity of this mine, AMD locally caused distinct chlorosis in pomegranate trees. As expected, potentially toxic concentrations of Cu, Fe, and Zn were accumulated in the leaves of the chlorotic pomegranate trees (YLP), i.e., increased by 69 %, 67 % and 56 %, respectively, compared to the non-chlorotic trees (GLP). Remarkably, also some other elements, including Al (82 %), Na (39 %), Si (87 %), and Sr (69 %) were considerably enhanced in YLP, compared to GLP. On the other hand, the foliar Mn concentration in YLP was strongly decreased, about 62 % lower than that in GLP. The most plausible reasons for chlorosis in YLP are either toxicity of Al, Cu, Fe, Na, and Zn, or a deficiency of Mn. In addition, AMD led to oxidative stress, shown by a high accumulation of H2O2 in YLP, and a strong upregulation of enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants. AMD apparently caused chlorosis, reduced the size of individual leaves, and caused lipid peroxidation. A further analysis of the adverse effect of the responsible AMD component(s) could be helpful to reduce the risk of food chain contamination.

Preharvest Multiple Applications of GABA Improve Quality Traits and Antioxidant Compounds of Pomegranate Fruit during Storage

GABA (γ-Aminobutyric acid) is an amino acid with diverse effects on plant development, including delayed senescence in horticultural commodities. The main goal of this research was to investigate the impact of GABA applications to pomegranate trees on the ‘Mollar de Elche’ quality traits and antioxidant compounds during storage for 60 days at 10 °C. In the 2019 experiment, pomegranate trees received foliar sprays of GABA at 10-, 50- or 100-mM concentrations at three stages of fruit development. Pomegranates harvested from GABA-treated trees exhibited enhanced fruit firmness, titratable acidity, the red color of skin and aril, and higher levels of total phenolics and total and specific anthocyanins compared to those obtained from the control group. These quality traits were maintained at higher levels during 60 days of preservation at 10 °C, and the most important effects were observed for 100 mM dose. In a 2020 experiment, GABA was sprayed at a 100 mM dose, and results were confirmed, showing a retard of the ripening process in pomegranates from GABA-treated trees concerning controls for two months of storage and an extension of their shelf life (with optimal quality traits appreciated by consumers) from 30 to 60 days. Moreover, the increase in anthocyanin content due to GABA treatments resulted in redder fruits, which would appeal more to consumers and have improved health benefits.

Efficacy of chemical insecticides against pomegranate aphid, Aphis punicae (Passerini)(Homoptera: Aphididae) in northern dry region during Ambe bahar

The pomegranate aphid, Aphis punicae (Passerini) (Homoptera: Aphididae) is one of the most important pestsin Karnataka on pomegranate tree. The study presented in this paper was conducted during 2020 to compare the efûcacyand selectivity of chemical insecticides (imidacloprid 17.8 SL, flonicamid 50 WG, acetamiprid 20 SP, thiamethoxam 25 WG,clothianidin 50 WDG and fipronil 5 SC) against A. punicae. The results revealed that the selected insecticides were effectivein reducing the aphids population over untreated control. Among the different insecticides tested, highest per cent reductionof 87.48% was recorded in imidacloprid 17.8 SL followed by flonicamid 50 WG (85.00%), acetamiprid 20 SP (80.52%) andthiamethoxam 25 WG (78.86%). Whereas, the lowest of 63.01 per cent reduction of aphid was recorded in dimethoate 30EC treated plot

Politics of Representation

This article takes a feminist viewpoint to highlight the lives and religious identities of Muslim women who are victims of pervasive negative perceptions of imperialist discourses and restrictive cultural practices of native males. We intend to investigate the practicability of empowerment conferred by feminism in redefining their subjectivity as represented in Tariq Ali’s Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree (1991) and The Book of Saladin (1998). Drawing on the concepts of postcolonial theorists such as; Edward Said, Chandra Mohanty, Fatima Mernissi and Riffat Hassan, we interpret the female characters as reflective of the women’s struggles to renegotiate their identity. The novels under scrutiny address the difficulties of depicting Muslim women in a cultural setting dominated by images of religious fanaticism, violence, and female subordination. Ali articulates a particular ideology regarding the construction of Muslim women’s socio-religious identity(ies) that serve the interests of Muslim clergy and patriarchy. We suggest that these representations are a powerful resource Muslim Women can draw upon in constructing their identities. Finally, it is argued that a disruption of the stereotypes of Muslim women signals the potential for the compatibility of Muslim women’s distinct identities.