Commercial Production of

Date Palm
By: Dr. Hera Gul
DATE PALM
 Botanical name phoenix dactylifera
 family: Arecaceae
Originated probably

from land around Iraq

 Cultivated in Egypt as
early as 4000 BCE for wine .
In Arabia it was cultivated

in 6000 BCE ago

 Evident shows that it was cultivated in western Pakistan
in 7000 BCE (mehrgarh) Indus valley.
DATES****
 The fruit is known as a date
 Dates are oval-cylindrical, 3–7 cm long, and 2–3 cm
(0.79–1.18 in) diameter, and when ripe, range from
bright red to bright yellow in color, depending on
variety.
 Three main cultivar groups of date exist : soft(
'Barhee)‘ semi-dry ('Dayri‘ , and dry ( 'Thoory)
 depends on the glucose, fructose and sucrose
content.
Botanical Description of Date Palm
Root system
• Being a monocotyledon, date palm has no tap root. Its
root system is fasciculated and roots are fibrous, similar
to a maize plant. Secondary roots appear on the
primary root which develop directly from the seed.
• These secondary roots produce lateral roots (tertiary
roots and so on) of the same type with approximately
the same diameter throughout their length.
Botanical Description of Date Palm
Trunk
• The date palm trunk, also called stem or stipe is vertical,
cylindrical and columnar of the same girth all the way up.
• The girth does not increase once the canopy of fronds has fully
developed. It is brown in colour, lignified and without any
ramification. Its average circumference is about 1 to1.10 m.
• The trunk is composed of tough, fibrous vascular bundles
cemented together in a matrix of cellular tissue which is much
lignified near the outer part of the trunk. Being a monocotyledon,
date palm does not have a cambium layer.
Botanical Description of Date Palm
Leaves
• Depending on variety, age of a palm and environmental
conditions, leaves of a date palm are 3 to 6 m long (4 m
average) and have a normal life of 3 to 7 years.
• The greatest width of the frond midrib attains 0.5 m, but
elsewhere it is only half this size and rapidly narrows from the
base upwards.
• The frond midrib or petiole is relatively triangular in cross
section with two lateral angles and one dorsal. It is bare of
spines for a short distance but full of spines on both sides
thereafter. Intermediate zones have spine-like leaflets, also
called leaflet-like spines.
Botanical Description of Date Palm
Fibre, spines and leaflets
• As well described by Dowson (1982), the base of the frond is a
sheath encircling the palm.
• This sheath consists of white connective tissue ramified by vascular
bundles.
• As the frond grows upwards, the connective tissue largely disappears
leaving the dried, and now brown, vascular bundles as a band of
tough, rough fibre attached to the lateral edges of the lower part of the
midribs of the fronds and ensheathing the trunk.
• Varieties differ in the height to which the fibre grows up the central
column of unopened fronds, and in the texture of the fibre and also
somewhat in colour
Botanical Description of Date Palm
Reproductive organs
• Date palm is a dioecious species with male and female flowers
being produced in clusters on separate palms.
• These flowering clusters are produced with axils of leaves of the
previous year's growth.
• In rare cases both pistillate and staminate flowers are produced
on the same spike while the presence of hermaphrodite flowers in
the inflorescence has also been reported (Mason, 1915; Milne,
1918).
• Palms which carry both unisexual and hermaphrodite flowers are
known as polygamous.
Botanical Description of Date Palm
• Depending on the variety, environmental conditions and the technical
care given (fertilisation, pollination, thinning,...), fruit characteristics
vary tremendously.
Botanical Description of Date Palm
Seed
• As with the fruit, seed characteristics vary according to variety,
environmental and growing conditions.
• A seed's weight could range from less than 0.5 g to about 4 g,
in length from about 12 to 36 mm and in breadth from 6 to 13
mm.
• The seed is usually oblong, ventrally grooved, with a small
embryo, and with a hard endosperm made of a cellulose
deposit on the inside of the cell walls
Diagrammatic construction of a date palm with its root system
Climate
• The date palm grows in subtropical and arid regions. The optimal
growing temperature is 32C.
• Temperatures below 7C or above 45C will arrest the tree’s growth
processes.
• Fruit set will occur only of the temperature is above 13C.
• A commercial yield is possible only of there is a long hot period of
around 32C.
• Rains during harvest season are damaging the yield of most date
varieties.
Soil
• Dates grow in various types of soil: light, medium and heavy, but
requires good drainage and air penetration into the soil.
• Date palms are resistant to alkaline soils.
• Irrigation with saline water is detrimental to the vegetative growth
potential and reduces yield size and quality.
Propagation

3 techniques of propagation
1. By seed(take 6-10yrs to fruit,50% turn male)
2. By offshoots(3-5yrs old, 18-34 kg in wt)
3. Tissue culture
Irrigation

• More water not a lot of water (improve quality of date

crop)
• Ditch under palm should never dry with proper
drainage otherwise palm suffer from lack of air
PLANTING
 Density

May lose up to 25% of planted

offshoots
1 male plant for 50 female plants
 Precocity
 Blooms within 3 years
Young date palm orchard
 First commercial crop in 5-6 years
PLANTING
 Precocity
 Full production 8-10 to
60 years
After60-80 years
productivity decreases
 Tree growth
 1-1.5’ (30-45
cm) per year
 By 15-20 years old is 20’ tall
Harvesting
• High quality dates are picked by hand individually
• Most are harvested by cutting off the entire cluster
• Extension ladder, mobile steel ladder or forked sticks are used
in many countries
Ripening
• In low humidity and adequate sunshine, dates are sun dried

• Processes used in dates storage are fumigation, cleaning,

grading, packing and refrigeration in US
Pests and Diseases
• Immature fall by Coccotrypes dactiliperda (insecticide)
• Red weevils (Major problem in Pakistan, control by fastoxin
tablets)
• Beetles
• Cale insects and moth(trimming of infested leaves)
 NATURAL POLINATION OF DATE PALM
 The date palm is dioecious, having separate male
and female plants. They can be easily grown from
seed.
 Most of them are cross pollinated it is possible
between Arabian date palm and Indian sugar date
P.sylvestris khajur in Bengali
 Date palms can take 4 to 8 years after planting
before they will bear fruit, and produce viable yields
for commercial harvest between 7 to 10 years.
 Mature date palms can produce 68 to 176
kilograms
 In order to get fruit of marketable quality, the
bunches of dates must be thinned and bagged or
covered before ripening so that the remaining fruits
grow larger and are protected from weather and
pests such as birds.
HOW DATE PALM POLLINATION IS DONE
It is done by skilled
labourers on ladders.
In some areas such
as Iraq the pollinator
climbs the tree using
a special climbing tool
that wraps around the
tree trunk and the
climber's back to keep him
attached to the trunk while climbing.
 Less often the pollen may be blown onto the

female flowers by a wind machine.

STAGES OF DATES
its ripen in four stages, which are known
throughout the world by their Arabic names :
 KIMRI (unripe), - 1st 17 weeks
Green, hard, bitter, 80% moisture
50% sugars

 KHLAL(full-size, crunchy), yellow,

 orange or red color

 RUTAB - weeks 24 to 27
 Half ripe, soft apex and change to light brown
 TAMER(ripe, sun-dried) - weeks 28 and 29
 Hazel to dark brown
 Wrinkled
 Low respiration
 Cells disorganized
Pakistani Varieties
• Dhakki, Gulistan, Aseel and Karbala of DI Khan
• Fasli and Kupro of Sindh
• Jangi, Jaan Swore, Kehraba and Rabai of Balochistan
• A seedless variety of Punjab
Some Varieties Of Other Countries
• Soidy
• Khastawy
• Maktoom
• Sayer
• Khadrawi
• Hayan
• Deglet Noor
• Barhi, Aajwa andAmber
Pakistan’s Date Production

• 5th producer of date palm

• Annual production is 0.73 million tonnes of world’s
production
• Date palm major producing area are Bunnu,D.I khan and
sakkhar
• Area under cultivation in D.I Khan is 677 hec and
production is 4002 tonnes
TYPE OF DATES
PRODUCTION
Top ten date producers — 2012
(1000 metric tonnes)
Egypt 1470
Iran 1066
Saudi Arabia 1050
Algeria 789
Iraq 650
Pakistan 600
Oman 270
United Arab Emirates 250
Tunisia 190
Libya 170
Source:
UN Food & Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
CONTENTS DATES
 Energy 1.178 kj
 Carbohydrates 75.03 g
 Sugars 63.6g
 Fiber 8g
 Protein 2.45 g
 Vitamins 55%(A,B1,B2,B3,B4,C,E,K ,pantothenic acid)
 Minerals ( calcium, iron, sodium, zinc, phosphorus)
 Other constituents water 20.53 g
DATES ARE GOOD FOR :
 Immediate energy replenishment
 Abdominal cancer orevention

 Treating constipation

 Weight gain

 Sexual health

 Reduce the risk of stroke

 Diminish allergic reaction

 Strengthen the bones

FRUIT FOOD USES
 Dry or soft dates are eaten out-of-hand, or may be
pitted and stuffed with fillings such as almonds,
walnuts, and lemon peel, tahini, or cream cheese.
 chopped and used in a range of sweet and savory
dishes
 Date nut bread, a type of cake, is very popular in
the United States
 spread, date syrup or "honey" called "dibs"
USES OF OTHER PARTS OF THE PLANT
 the palm tree is the most versatile of all indigenous
plants, and virtually
every part of the tree is utilized to
make functional items ranging from
rope and baskets to beehives, fishing
boats, and traditional dwellings
 Seeds: are soaked and ground up for animal feed.
 Their oil is suitable for use in soap and cosmetics seeds
contain 0.56–5.4% lauric acid.
 source of oxalic acid. The seeds are also burned to
make charcoal for silversmiths, and can be strung in
necklaces
Date seeds are also ground and used
in the manner of coffee beans
USES OF OTHER PARTS OF THE PLANT
 Fruitclusters:Stripped scarcity.
fruit clusters are used as
brooms
 Leaves:In North Africa,
they used for making
huts. Mature leaves are
also made into mats,
screens, baskets and
fans.
 The finely ground seeds
are mixed with flour to
make bread in times of
 Wood:is used for posts
and rafters for huts; it is
lighter than coconut and
not very durable
REFERENCES
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Date_palm
 https://www.organicfacts.net/health-
benefits/fruit/health-benefits-of-dates.html
 http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dates+&FO
RM=HDRSC2