Evaluation of Aerial Offshoots Rooting of Three International Date Palm Varieties

Abstract

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivation for commercial purposes has gained popularity in Jericho and Jordan valley in Palestine. In the last years, considerable progress has been made in this subject. Date palm is generally propagated by offshoots. Propagation by offshoots is the mainstay of date palm and is likely to remain despite the success of other propagation methods such as in vitro techniques (tissue culture). Therefore, the rooting of the aerial offshoots of three international date palm varieties were studied at Faisal Isaid farm, Jericho-Palestine during the year 2013. The objective of this study was to evaluate the rooting ability and the shoot enhancement of three date palm varieties viz., Medjool, Deglet Noor and Barhi. Observations of root and shoot parameters of the aerial offshoots were recorded after six months from air layering for the three varieties. Results indicated that Barhi variety was significantly superior in almost all the root and shoot parameters studied in the experiment, the next best variety was Deglet Noor, while the last one was Medjool. The best root induction and shoot enhancement in aerial offshoots of Barhi variety is believed due to the genetic factors and to the more availability of photosynthates (food materials) due to early fruit harvesting of Barhi trees as compared to other varieties studied in this experiment.