Date Palm

Important Points

• Dates are highly salt tolerant.
• Alternate bearing habit present in date palm.
• Dates contain 75-80% carbohydrate in the form of inverted sugar.
• In India – Dates are harvested in the Doka stage.
• In other countries, dates are harvested in the dang stage.
• Metaxania is common in dates.
• Fruits are preferred for fresh consumption in the Dang stage.
• The date drink is known as Dibbi.
• Arrack, a liquor made from dates, is popular in Iraq.
• One kilo of fully ripe fresh dates provides about 3150 calories.
• It is said that about the date palm – “His feet should be in the running water and his head in the fire of the sky.
• 10% of males should be planted in the orchards to provide sufficient pollen grains.
• Leaf-cutting time – June.
• Ethephon is an effective fruit thinning agent.
• Dates harvested in the Doka stage contain 70-80% moisture.
• Doka fruits are successfully processed to prepare ‘Chhuhara’.
• The use of metaxenia – to induce earliness and improve quality.
• Khadrawy and Medjod are varieties developed by somatic embryogenesis.
• Trailer-mounted palm dusters are used for pollination.
• A good date palm variety requires 3300 heat units for full maturity.
• Iraq is the world’s largest producer.

Metaxenia

The effect of pollen on the developing maternal tissues of a seed or fruit outside the embryo and endosperm due to double fertilization.

Development stage of Date / Grade

• Hababouk – Hard, Green.
• Gandora or chirmi – Fully grown, Hard, Yellow in colour.
• Doka / Dang or Rutab – Softening
• Pind or Tamer – Full ripe and dehydrated

Varieties

• Juice suitable – Zagloul, Hayani
• Chuhharah making – Khadrawy, Medjool, Sharan.
• Fresh Eating – Halawy, Barhee, Khalas, sevi, Khunezi.
• Pind Khajoor (soft date) – Zahidi
• Sharan – Uneven ripening

Type

• Bread type dry date – Thoory
• Cane sugar date (Semi dry date) – Dayari, Deglet Noor Zahidi
• Invert sugar date (soft date) – Halawy, Khadrawy, Borhee, Medjool

 Climate

• Long summers, mild winters, high night temperatures. Low relative humidity and little or no rain, especially during flowering time.
• optimum temperature – 25ºC
• The quality of fruits is reduced due to dust storms.

Soil

• Dates can also be grown on poor soils such as sandy, loamy, or clay soils.
• But sandy loam soil with ideal drainage good for cultivation.
• Dates can also tolerate saline and alkaline soil conditions.

Propagation

• Mainly propagated by offshoots / suckers
• Propagation by seed usually results in 50% male and 50% female plants.
• Gender/sex is known only when palms are in the flowering stage.
• Suckers develop from axillary buds located at the base of the stem.
• A palm can produce a maximum of about 10-25 suckers during its productive life.
• Suckers weighing 10 to 25 kg of age 2 to 3 years with a good root system are best suited for planting.
• Suitable time to remove off shoots from mother palm is spring (February-March) and autumn (August-September).

Planting

• The pits are dug from 60 to 100 cm³ in summer.
• Planting is done at 6 to 8 m. spacing.
• The planting time is from February to March.

Manure and Fertilizers

• About 30 – 40 kg of FYM and 200 g each of N, P, and K are given under rainfed conditions.
• Full quantity of FYM with half quantity of N and full quantity of P₂O₅ and K₂O is given in the month of September-October.
• Give the remaining half of N in January-February.

Irrigation

• In sandy soil, the crop needs irrigation at 7-10 days intervals in summer and 15 days in winter.

Interculture and intercropping

• To control weeds and provide better soil conditions for palm growth and development, shallow cultivation is done.
• It is also advisable to grow leguminous crops inside young date palm seedlings.

Mulching

• Various types of mulching material are available for use but black polythene has proved to be an ideal mulch.

Training and pruning

• It does not require training or pruning until at least 5 years of age. However, leaf pruning is required for well-grown plantings.

Flowering and Fruiting

• Date palms start flowering at 4-5 years of age.
• Spathes emerge from January to March.
• Female and male spathes bloom at different times, so cross-pollination is effective.
• Cross-pollination by hand is most effective.

Fruit thinning

The main objectives of fruit thinning in date palm are-

• To increase the size of fruits.
• To improve the quality of fruits.
• To prevent delayed ripening.
• To reduce the density of bunches.
• To prevent the shriveling of berries.
• To prevent breakage of stalks.

For Thinning spraying of Ethephon at 100 or 200ppm after 10 or 20 days of fruit set.

PGR

• It is also possible to induce seedlessness in date palm by spraying GA₃ (25 to 100 ppm) on female flowers at the time of flowering, and then again after 4 weeks.

Harvesting

• The harvesting time varies according to the local demand, but mostly harvesting is done at the Dang and Doka stages. Doka-stage fruits can also be used to prepare dry fruits.

Yield

• 30 kg per palm under non-irrigated conditions
• 200 kg per palm under irrigated conditions.

Diseases

1. Graphiola leaf spot (Graphiola phoenicis)

• Affected leaves have small, hard dark brown or black pustules filled with yellow spores. These are scattered on both upper and lower leaf surfaces.

Control

• 2 to 3 sprays of Bordeaux mixture or Dithane M-45 @ 0.2%.

Insect pests

1. Black headed caterpillar (Opisina arenosella)

• The caterpillars feed on the underside of leaves by hiding inside tunnels on the leaf folds.

Control

• Spray 5-10 ml of Monocrotophos near the roots of each tree or spray 0.04% on the leaves.

2. Red palm weevil (Rhynchophorus ferrugineus)

• This pest attacks the stem mainly through its larvae which bore into the stem and tunnel through the tissues in all directions.

Control

• The larvae can be killed by thrashing wires in the tunnels.

3. Termite (Odontotermes ohesus)

• Termites mainly attack roots and make galleries inside the stem, branches may wilt and die.

Control

• Chlorpyrifos solution should be sprayed inside the soil at the time of pit filling.