MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERIZATION AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS STUDY OF SOME COMMON DATE PALM CULTIVARS GROWN IN ISMAILIA REGION | ||||
| Journal of Plant Production | ||||
| Article 16, Volume 32, Issue 2, February 2007, Page 1255-1271 PDF (571.5 K) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jpp.2007.206154 | ||||
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| Authors | ||||
A. F. Mostafa1; M. S. Beltagi1; H. M. Hassan1; A. M. El Assar  2
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| 1Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia, Egypt. | ||||
| 2Tropical Fruits and Date Palm Research Department, Horticulture Research Institute, Giza, Egypt. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| This comparative study was carried out during 2001 season at the Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Suez CanalUniversity, Ismailai, Egypt. Six cultivars of the most common dates were submitted to evaluation (Agglany, Ammry, Bint Aisha, Hayani, Samany and Zaghloul). The study involved the measurements of morphological characteristics of palm trees and date fruits as well as chemical measurements of fruits at maturation (marketable) stage. The minimum trunk diameter was recorded with Ammry (21 cm) while the maximum trunk diameter was recorded with Hayani (31 cm). The number of bunches per palm tree varied from 8.22 with Samany to 15.33 bunches with Ammry. The number of fruits on each stalk ranged from 11.63 for Zaghloul to 19.04 fruits / stalk for Agglany. The smallest weight of fruit stalk was 166.04 (g) for Bint Aisha, while the greatest weight of fruit stalk was 304.22 (g) for Samany. The length of fruit stalk varied from a shortest of 0.57 (m) in Zaghloul to a longest of 1.82 (m) in Agglany. The maximum number of fruit stalks/ bunch was recorded with Agglany (118.00 stalks/bunch), however no significant differences occurred among all other five studied cultivars. Agglany was superior to all studied cultivars concerning the total yield (333.95 kg / palm), while Zaghloul was had the lowest total yield (141.77 kg / palm). Samany had seemed as a major cultivar and the data indicated that it has distinctive morphological characteristics such as: the highest blade width at both the basal and middle regions, spine zone length, number of spines, length of spine, pinna length at the middle region of the blade, width of pinna at the middle region of the blade, weight of leaf, weight of fruit stalk, fruit diameter at the middle region, fruit weight, width of inflorescence spathe, and diameter and weight of seed. The Agglany and Ammry cultivars were related to each other in their morphological attributes. They shared approximately the same diameter of palm trunk, number of fruits in each stalk, weight of fruit stalk, blade width along the main rachis, length of the spine zone, length of pinnae zone, number of pinnae on both sides of the rachis, spine length, width of pinna at the apical region of the blade, length/width ratio of pinna at the basal region of the blade, pinna thickness, diameter of fruit at the apical region, and length of inflorescence spathe. Likewise, the study indicated that the Hayani and Bint Aisha cultivars have many distinguishing morphological attributes. They have similar trunk diameters, number of fruit bunches for each tree, number of stalks in each fruit bunch, number of fruits for each stalk, leaf length, blade width along the main rachis, length of spine zone, length of pinnae zone, number of spines on both sides of the rachis, spine length, length/ width ratio of the pinna at the middle region of the blade, width of pinna at the middle region of the blade, pinna thickness, weight of leaf. and fruit colour. On the other hand, the most significant and distinguishable morphological attributes that were found in Zaghloul cultivar, which differed from all other studied cultivars. It had the shortest fruit stalk, lowest number of spines on both sides of the rachis, the highest number of pinnae on both sides of the rachis, shortest pinna length at the basal region of the blade, shortest pinna width at the apical region of the blade, highest length/ width ratio of pinna at the apical region of the blade, bright red colour fruits, highest diameter at both the base and the apex of fruit, longest fruit length, longest spathe inflorescence, and highest spathe length/ width ratio. Statistical analysis of total sugars content showed significant differences among all studied cultivars, where it ranged between 48.25% in Samany to 77.25% in Ammry. Regarding fruit quality traits, it was found that the total acidity percentage differed significantly among the studied cultivars at the ripening stage. Ammry had the lowest acidity percentage (0.04%) and Zaghloul had the highest value (0.12%). The values of crude protein ranged from 1.6% in Zaghloul to 2.75% in Bint Aisha. Concerning the macro elements analysis, the data showed that the most abundant element was potassium. Magnesium content values ranged from 0.11 ppm in Samany to 0.16 ppm in Agglany. Among the trace elements, the data analysis showed that iron was the main element showing highly significant differences among all studied cultivars. Iron content values ranged from 30.24 ppm in Ammry to 54.94 ppm in Bint Aisha. | ||||
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