Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture 36: 1-8, doi: 10.3897/ejfa.2024.120425
Influence of pollination in liquid suspension on the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Mejhoul cultivar in the Mexicali valley, Mexico
expand article infoRicardo Salomón-Torres, Jonathan A. Acosta-Perez, Robert R. Krueger§, María Melissa Gutiérrez-Pacheco, Yohandri Ruisanchez-Ortega, Abdallah Oihabi|, Adel Ahmed Abul-Soad, Abdelouahhab Zaid#
‡ Universidad Estatal de Sonora, Sonora, Mexico§ USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository for Citrus and Dates, Riverside, United States of America| International Date Palm GAP expert, Alicante, Spain¶ Horticulture Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, Orman, Egypt# Khalifa International Award for Date Palm and Agricultural Innovation, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Open Access
Abstract
The pollination process is one of the most important contributors to a successful date production since the yield and quality of the fruit depends on its correct successful. Liquid pollination in the date palm production is a recently used technique that seeks to obtain acceptable fruit set percentages (FSP) with lower pollen consumption. In this study, during the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons, the effect of pollination with pollen grains in liquid suspension on the FSP in the date palm cultivar ‘Mejhoul’ was evaluated in the Mexicali Valley, Mexico. The applications were in various proportions of pollen in liquid suspension (1, 2, 3 and 4 g/L), with approximately 40 mL on each inflorescence. The results revealed that the best treatment was 4 g/L with an average FSP of 67.89 and 68.69% for the years 2021 and 2022 respectively, while the control treatment obtained 54.94 and 57.75%, for the same years. Likewise, this method did not affect the physical and chemical properties and yields. Finally, this study suggests that in addition to consuming a smaller amount of pollen, this method has better pollination efficiency.
Keywords
Artificial pollination, Date palm pollen, Fruit set, Liquid suspension pollen, Liquid pollination, Phoenix dactylifera L.