Performance of Exotic Germplasm of Date Palm Under the Climatic Conditions of Central Punjab, Pakistan
Performance of Exotic Germplasm of Date Palm Under the Climatic Conditions of Central Punjab, Pakistan
Muti Ullah1*, Muhammad Kashif Raza1, Muhammad Zahid Rashid2, Amina2, Maryam Nasir2 and Zaid Mustafa3
ABSTRACT
Date palm is third major fruit in Pakistan after citrus and mango in respect of area and production. Existing germplasm of dates having more 300 varieties have no export potential. Study of exotic and promising germplasm under central Punjab condition is a need of the date industry. For this purpose, date palm tissue cultured suckers of Ajwa, Amber, Barhee and Khudri were investigated for morphological and biochemical attributes under agro climatic conditions of central Punjab. Result regarding plant height (cm) and number of fronds were found maximum in Ajwa cultivar, while maximum suckers were observed in Khudri. Reproductive parameter spathe per plant was noted maximum (8.5) in Amber followed by khudri (7.2). In case of yield/plant, maximum yield was noted in case of Amber (35.93Kg) trailed by khudri (33.70 Kg) and Barhee (29.12 Kg) whereas lowest yield was observed in ajwa (26.12Kg). The highest percentage of TSS was found in Ajwa (47.03 %) followed by Amber (39.93%), Barhee (31.6 %) while lowest TSS was noted in cultivar Khudri (28.1 %). Our results depicted that morphological and biochemical parameters are very useful to assess the performance of different date palm cultivars for commercial cultivation and germplasm conservation.
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