EFFECT OF POLLEN SOURCE ON YIELD AND FRUITS QUALITY OF DATE PALM (Phoenix dactylifera L.) CV. ‘MEJHOUL’ IN MOROCCAN OASES

The study was undertaken to determine the influence of pollen sources on fruit set, yield and fruit quality of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cv. ‘Mejhoul’. Six different male trees (symbolized from M1 to M6) and six ‘Mejhoul’ female trees were selected for experiment, on female tree, six spathes were selected, each spathe were pollinated by one pollen grains source. The results indicated that pollen source significantly affected all parameters measured, the maximum fruit set percentage was obtained for spathes pollinated by M1 (67.90%), however, this percentage were minimal for spathes pollinated by M4 (30.22%). As for the yield, the M1 pollinizer engendered a net yield enhancing of 36.50% compared to the average yield (42.52 kg/palm). Pomological characteristic of the fruit like fruit weight, flesh weight, fruit length, fruit width and flesh/ seed ratio were significantly improved with pollination from M5 compared to other male trees. The obtained values of dietary mineral matter ranged from 1.64 to 2.03% for dates from M2 and M5 pollinizers respectively. Total individual sugars content of the dates varied from a minimum of 70.80 g/100 g dry matter obtained for dates from M4 to a maximum of 84.81 g/100 g dry matter recorded for the dates from M6. The results suggested that best pollen source (male palm) should be selected for ‘Mejhoul’ dates to get most desired characteristics.