Effect of pollen quantity on the anatomy and the quality of ‘Zaghloul’date palm fruit (Phoenix dactylifera, L.)

This work was carried out during 2009 and 2010 seasons, in a private orchard located in Kafr El-Sheikh Governorate-Egypt, to study the influence of pollen quantity (PQ) on the anatomy and fruit quality of ’Zaghloul’ dates. Twelve bunches of each female were selected for four different treatments (three bunches for each treatment), as follow; PQ0 (by nature pollination; control), PQ1 (four strands/bunch), PQ2 (eight strands/bunch) and PQ3 (16 strands/bunch). PQ2 gave the highest bunch weight, fruit weight, fruit length, SSC and lowest tannins content and total acidity as compared to the control and other treatments. Also, PQ2 recorded the lowest number of layers in epiderm cells, stone cells, outer mesocarp cells and tannins cells (14.67, 63.33, 1041.67 and 533.33 μ, respectively), additional highest layer in inter mesocarp (4500.67 μ). Control fruits recorded the highest numbers of layers in epiderm, hypoderm and tannins (20.00, 48.22 and 1072.22μ, respectively). PQ1 and PQ2 recorded the highest number of layers in outer mesocarp cells and stone cells (1700.00 and 90.00 μ, respectively). Results showed that the amount of pollen play an important role in fruit quality of Zaghloul date palm fruits through some changes in the number of cell layers.

Keywords:

Date palm , Quality , Anatomy , Pollen quantity ,