Evaluation of Compatible Pollen Application on Yield and Some Quantitative Characteristics of Tissue Culture Derived Date Palm of Medjool Cultivar

Pollen and Pollination is a critical process in date fruit production that may affect the quality, quantity and yield of the fruit. Application of compatible pollen can lead to an acceptable level of fruit set. Five pollinator genotypes including 7001 (as control), 7004, 7013, 7030 and Boyer 11 (derived from tissue culture) were selected to investigate the effect of pollen source on the commercial production of tissue culture-derived Medjool cultivar. This research was performed on 15 twelve- year- old trees of Medjool cultivar derived from tissue culture in a randomized complete block design with three replications. The experiment was carried out in Jahrom Research Station during 2019 and 2020. Pollen source had a significant effect on the percentage of fruit set and characteristics of the fruit. Bunches pollinated with pollens from genotypes 7030 and 7013 showed the highest percentage of the fruit set (56.80 and 56.10%, respectively), while bunches pollinated with pollen from genotype 7004 showed the lowest percentage of the fruit set (about 49.38%).The results indicated that the bunches pollinated with pollens obtained from genotype 7013 showed the highest fruit and seed length, fruit weight, fruit flesh, fruit volume, bunch weight and yield. Based on the results, the best pollen for Medjool cultivar in terms of fruit set and quantitative characteristics is pollen from genotype 7013. This study made it possible to identify the fruit characteristics, according to the pollen used. These results can be used to achieve high yield in Medjool dates.