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Asian Journal of Plant Sciences

Year: 2008 | Volume: 7 | Issue: 1 | Page No.: 105-108
DOI: 10.3923/ajps.2008.105.108
Effect of Thinning Practices on Fruit Yield and Quality of Ruzeiz Date Palm Cultivar (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in Al-Ahsa Saudi Arabia
Mohamed Salem Al-Saikhan

Abstract: A field study was carried out to determine the effect of thinning fruiting bunches on fruit yield and quality of Ruzeiz date palm trees (Phoenix dactylifera L.) at Date Palm Research Center, Al-Ahsa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Four thinning treatments included control, no thinning of strands (T1), 1/3 shortening of the total strands from the tips (T2), 1/3 removal of the central strands (T3), 1/3 shortening plus 1/3 removal of central strands (T4). All the thinning treatments improved the fruit quality with respect to fresh fruit weight, fruit flesh weight, reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar contents as compared to the control treatment. Among the various thinning treatments, T4 (combination of 1/3 shortening and 1/3 removal of central strands) produced the best fruit weight, flesh percentage, reducing and non-reducing sugars contents of date fruit. Whereas the total date palm yield and bunch weight were significantly reduced by the same treatment (combination of the shortening and central removal of strands). However, the date fruit quality was identical for T2 and T3 (i.e., 1/3 removal of central strands and 1/3 shortening of total strands) treatments. There was no significant difference of date palm yield and bunch weight obtained in control treatment than that of strands removing and shortening treatments. Overall, the removing and shortening of strands treatments showed promising results for adoption at large scale to improve Ruzeiz fruit yield and quality.

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How to cite this article
Mohamed Salem Al-Saikhan , 2008. Effect of Thinning Practices on Fruit Yield and Quality of Ruzeiz Date Palm Cultivar (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in Al-Ahsa Saudi Arabia . Asian Journal of Plant Sciences, 7: 105-108.

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