PJB-2019-1532
Fruit yield and quality of Dhakki date as affected by fresh and stored pollens of potential male genotypes
Muhammad Iqbal, Khalid Usman, Shakeel Ahmad Jatoi and Muhammad Munir
Abstract
A maximum quantity of pollen grains at the time of pollination is helpful for higher fruit set and yield. But mostly, male flowers earlier than female. Male also shed their pollen immediately after spath opening, thus fresh pollens are not available at the time of pollination. Hence pollens are stored and used for pollination as Dhakki dates flower late in the season. An investigation was carried out in order to evaluate the impact of fresh and stored pollens of potential male genotypes on fruit yield and quality of Dhakki date palm. Twenty Dhakki trees were pollinated with fresh and stored pollens of ten different male trees (designated as M1, M2 …M10) in 2012 and 2013, respectively. Three spathes were selected on each Dhakki tree for pollination with fresh and stored pollens on the 2nd day of spath opening. The results indicated that fresh and stored pollens had a significant effect on fruit yield and quality. Fresh and stored pollens of genotype M2 induced highest fruit set (90.13 and 75.12 %), fruit weight (21.82 and 21.3 g), fruit yield (94.79 and 91.79 kg/tree), TSS (38.5 and 37.9 %), total sugar (17.8 and 17.3 %) and pollen viability (95 and 89 %), respectively. On the other hand, Fresh and stored pollens of genotype M3 brought out higher fruit weight (21.12 and 20.7 g), fruit yield (87.2 and 86.4 kg/tree), TSS (39.1 and 38.7 %) and total sugars (17.7 and 17.4 %), respectively. The results suggested that fresh and stored pollens of genotypes M2 and M3 had high potency pollens that induced higher fruit set, fruit yield and fruit quality in Dhakki date
To Cite this article:
Iqbal, M., K. Usman, S.A. Jatoi and M. Munir. 2019. Fruit yield and quality of Dhakki date as affected by fresh and stored pollens of potential male genotypes. Pak. J. Bot., 51(5): DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30848/PJB2019-5(29)
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