Effect of Pollen Source on Yield, Quality and Maturity of Mejhool Date Palm

To study the effects of pollens on yield, maturity and fruit quality of “Mejhool” date palm cultivar, several local and commercial male trees were used. High fruit set was obtained when spathes were pollinated with “Aqaba” and “Dayyat1” on the 2003 season and with “Jarvis”, “Aqaba”, “Boyer” and “Barakah” on the 2004 season. Also, spathes pollinated with “Aqaba” pollen on the 2003 season and with “Dayyat1” and “Mejhool” on the 2004 season gave the highest fruit weight, while those pollinated with “Boyer” (2003 season) and “Jarvis” (2004 season) pollen gave the least fruit weight. In addition, spathes pollinated with “Aqaba” increased fruit maturity while those pollinated with “Barakah” male delayed it. The highest fruit flesh weight was when spathes were pollinated with “Barakah”, “Jarvis” and “Dayyat1”, while those pollinated with and “Mejhool” gave the least flesh weight