Influence of pollination in liquid suspension on the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Mejhoul cultivar in Mexicali Valley, Mexico

Authors: SALOMON-TORRES, R - Universidad De Sonora; ACOSTA-PEREZ, JA - Universidad De Sonora; GUTIERREZ-PACHECO, MM - Universidad De Sonora; Krueger, Robert; RUISANCHEZ-ORTEGA, Y - Universidad De Sonora; OIHABI, A - Consultant; ABUL-SOAD, AA - Horticulture Research Institute; ZAID, A - Khalifa University

Submitted to: Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/22/2024
Publication Date: 3/14/2024
Citation: Salomon-Torres, R., Acosta-Perez, J., Gutierrez-Pacheco, M., Krueger, R., Ruisanchez-Ortega, Y., Oihabi, A., Abul-Soad, A., Zaid, A. 2024. Influence of pollination in liquid suspension on the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Mejhoul cultivar in Mexicali Valley, Mexico. Emirates Journal of Food and Agriculture. 36:1-8. https://doi.org/10.3897/ejfa.2024.120425.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/ejfa.2024.120425

Interpretive Summary: Date fruit requires artificial pollination for good fruit set and fruit production. Traditionally, this has been done since antiquity by hand pollinating with dried pollen. Recently, there have been reports from several countries of successful pollination using liquid suspensions of pollen. In this report, use of a liquid date pollen suspension in northwestern Mexico is demonstrated to achieve improved fruit set as compared to conventional pollination with dried pollen while using less pollen and with no decrease in fruit quality or yield.

Technical Abstract: The pollination process is one of the most important contributors to a successful date production since the yield and quality of the fruit depends on its correct successful. Liquid pollination in the date palm production is a recently used technique that seeks to obtain acceptable fruit set percentages (FSP) with lower pollen consumption. In this study, during the 2021 and 2022 growing seasons, the effect of pollination with pollen grains in liquid suspension on the FSP in the date palm cultivar Mejhoul was evaluated in the Mexicali Valley, Mexico. The applications were in various proportions of pollen in liquid suspension (1, 2, 3 and 4 g/L), with approximately 40 mL on each inflorescence. The results revealed that the best treatment was 4 g/L with an average FSP of 67.96 and 68.33% for the years 2021 and 2022 respectively, while the control treatment obtained 54.86 and 57.25%, for the same years. Likewise, this method did not affect the physical and chemical properties and yields. Finally, this study suggests that in addition to consuming a smaller amount of pollen, this method has better pollination efficiency.