Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

IMPACT OF GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION ON THE VARIATION OF MORPHOLOGICAL AND BIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES IN TWO DATE PALM CULTIVARS

Ghazzawy, H.S., M. R.Alhajhoj, H. M.Ali-Dinar, M. Munir and N. Alqahtani, Date palm

Abstract

The rationale of the study was to determine the effect of three different locations (Hassa, Kharj, and Qassim) on two date palm ( Phoenix dactylifera L.) varieties (Khalas and Berhi) to show the effect of the spatial difference affected by weather factors on the quality characteristics of the two types of study. The number of varieties was estimated at 400 varieties distributed in different agricultural areas. Each region was characterized by certain species in the Kingdom. In the proposed study, a series of laboratory studies will be carried out to propose an ideal distribution map for the distribution of varieties in Saudi Arabia in terms of optimum temperature and humidity for growth. It is concluded from the present study that although date palm cultivar Khalas originated from Al-Hassa region however it flourishes well in Qaseem region and produced higher quality fruits. On the other hand, the date palm cultivar Berhi, which was originated from Qaseem geographical location performed well in the same location regarding physicochemical characteristics of the fruit. A detailed future study is suggested to conduct on the soil chemistry and microbiology and in-situ monitoring of crop environment.