Quantitative and Qualitative Characteristics of Date Palm Cv. Gulistan in Response to Pollination Times

Pollination time is one of the most important factors, which affect pollination efficiency and fruit set. Fruit set, yield and physico-chemical characteristics of date palm cv. Gulistan were assessed under agro climatic condition of D. I. Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan during 2012 and 2013. Treatments consisted of five varied pollination timings i.e., at spathe opening day, 3, 6, 9, and 12 days after spathe opening. Fresh male strand placement technique was used in this study. Strands were cut from a freshly opened male spathe and 2 – 3 strands were placed between the strands of the female inflorescence. Data were collected for fruit set (%), fruit drop (%), fruit yield (kg palm-1) and wide range of physico-chemical quality parameters. Results revealed that pollination times affected all the parameters significantly. Maximum fruit set of 98.12, 93.14% and fruit yield of 79.43 and 78.80 kg palm-1 were recorded in 2012 and 2013, respectively, from pollination at spathe opening day. Mean values for these parameters decreased when pollination was carried out after spathe opening. Late pollination after 12 days of spathe opening reduced fruit set and yield but improved the overall fruit physico-chemical quality characteristics with maximum fruit length (4.15, 4.22 cm), fruit weight (14.23, 14.44 g), pulp weight (13.45, 13.33 g), reducing sugars (21.25, 21.18% ) and total sugars (29.36, 28.85 %). This study proved that pollination at spath opening day was more effective for optimum fruit set and economic yield. However, delayed pollination improved the fruit quality characters but at the expense of decreased fruit set and yield and increased percent fruit drop.