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Effect of Fruit Thinning Rate on Yield and Fruit Quality of Zaghloul and Haiany Date Palms.

Research Authors
Mostafa R.A.A. and M.M. El Akkad
Research Abstract

The effect of bunches and strands thinning on yield and fruit quality of Zaghloul and Haiany date palms was investigated during three successive seasons, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Fruit thinning was carried out by adjusting the number of bunches/palm to 5, 7 or 9 bunches. The nine bunches/palm, however, were especially thinned to 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45 strands/bunch. The results of the present study indicated a significant negative correlation between bunch weight and bunch-number/palm and a positive one between the bunch weight and strand numbers/bunch. Reducing the strand-numbers/bunch to either 20 or 25 strands significantly decreased the bunch weight and yield/palm compared with the unthinned ones. A remarkable improvement on fruit quality was noticed, after the fruit thinning in comparison to the unthinning. Thinning either bunches or strands lead to a significant increase in the fruit weight, size and flesh percentage as compared to unthinning at all. Fruit thinning also positively improved the date palm fruit chemical properties. It is worth notable that, leaving 30 to 35 strands/bunch would result in a considerable yield characterized by high fruit quality of Zaghloul and Haiany date palms.

Research Department
Research Journal
Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences,
Research Publisher
NULL
Research Rank
1
Research Vol
5(12)
Research Website
NULL
Research Year
2011
Research Pages
3233-3239