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Evaluation and Selection of Date Palm Varieties from Seedling Progeny in Saudi Arabia



Author(s)

Ibrahim Abdoulhadi Al-Abdoulhadi

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DOI:10.17265/2161-6256/2015.01A.001

Date Palm Research Centre, P. O. Box 43, Al-Hassa 31982, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

A survey was conducted in 2011 in the major date growing regions of Saudi Arabia to identify and evaluate date palms with fruit characteristics preferred by the producers and consumers. The regions in the Kingdom surveyed for this purpose were Al-Zulfi, Al-Hassa, Najran, Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah and Al-Qassim. Seventy palms from seedlings were initially identified for the study based on the following fruit characteristics, i.e., fruit length, breadth, weight, color, taste, texture, sugar content, external appearance and also the market value. Subsequently, 12 palms (Al-Afiah, Duhiba, Adbah, Aliah, Shamshula, Masifat Al-Asedy, Suwaid, Batlyah, Al-Nassar, Hussan, Sukariyat Al-Zulfi and Al-Hamat) mainly from the Zulfi and Riyadh regions were found to meet the required standards with potential for commercial date farming. Among these, fruits of Adbah had the highest total sugars of 72.9% followed by Duhiba with a total sugar content of 71.9%. Fruit length was maximum (49.1 mm) in the variety Aliah, while the fruits of the variety Hussan recorded the maximum weight of 19.5 g. Furthermore, it is pertinent to mention that fruit size of the 12 selected cultivars was generally large and comparable to Majdool, a well-known date palm cultivar of North Africa. The fruits of the selected cultivars were also tasty and can be stored separately.

Fruit characteristics, Phoenix dactylifera, seedling date palm, Saudi Arabia.