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Assessing the Efficiency of Sponge and Traditional Methods of Pollination in Date Palm



Author(s)

Abdallah Ben Abdallah1, 2, Nabeel Ali Al-Wusaibai1 and Youssef Al-Fehaid1

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DOI:10.17265/2161-6264/2014.04B.003

1. Date Palm Research Centre, Al-Hassa 31982, Saudi Arabia
2. FAO Project (UTFN/SAU/043/SAU), DPRC, Al-Hassa 31982, Saudi Arabia

In date palm Phoenix dactylifera L. male (pollen bearing) and female (fruit bearing) inflorescences are on separate palms. To ensure good fertilization and better yield, artificial pollination is carried out in date plantations, where pollen harvested from male flowers are used for artificial pollination which is usually done manually. Often, the availability of male flowers becomes scarce due to the high demand to take up pollination during the short period of time when the female flowers are receptive. We assessed the comparative efficiency of using pollen to manually pollinate female date palm flowers in the field using sponge pieces charged with harvested pollen as compared to the traditional practice of the farmers using male inflorescences. Results revealed that fruit set (%), fructification (%), yield per bunch (kg) besides fruit weight, length and breadth were statistically similar in the two pollination methods evaluated. The sponge method of manual pollination can therefore serve as a viable alternative to the traditional method of pollination with the possibility of using stored pollen especially where male palms are scarce and pollen is difficult to obtain.

Date palm, manual pollination, sponge technique, fruit set, fructification.