Effect of pollen source on yield parameters and yield of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L) cultivars

The investigations were conducted at experimental orchard of Department of Horticulture, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana during 2015 to study the effect of pollen source on date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L). Four date palm cultivars (Hillawi, Zahidi, Khadrawi and Shamran) and two pollinizers (P dactylifera and P sylvestris) were selected for present investigations. The results indicated that fruit setting percentage and days of Doka stage were significantly affected by male pollinizer. Maximum fruit set (81.98%) was recorded in cv Khadrawi, maximum fruit length (4.69 cm) and bunch weight (35.87 kg) in cv Hillawi and highest fruit breadth (2.63 cm) and weight of seed (1.64 g) in cv Zahidi using P sylvestris as pollen source. The pollinizer P dactylifera with cv Khadrawi resulted in maximum fruit weight (14.17 g) and fruit pulp (12.44 g) while with Shamran it gave highest pulp-stone ratio (10.56). Fruit maturity was one week earlier in all the cultivars when P sylvestris was used as pollen source.