Effect of Nutrition and Water Use Management on Yield and Quality of Medjool Date Fruit

Considering the widespread presence of the date palm groves in the southern provinces of the country, low rainfall, and high evapotranspiration necessitate the need for the pressurized irrigation systems in date palm grove and application of modern fertigation method. This experiment was conducted in a split plot based on randomized complete block design with three levels of irrigationincluding 60%, 80%, and 100 % of cumulative evaporation from class A pan in the main plots, and three levels of nutrition (without fertilizer use (control), localized placement (Chalkood), and fertigation) in the sub-plots, with 3 replications. The results showed that the nutrition of date palm (Chalkood or fertigation method) increased the yield of date palm by an average of 18%. Also, fresh weight, length, and volume of date fruit and weight of pulp increased by, respectively, 4%, 4%, 7%, while and 4.4%, the weight of stone and ratio of weight of pulp to stone increased by, respectively, 5% and 4.5%. Also, increasing the amount of irrigation water increased the yield and the quantitative characteristics of the date fruit, but its effect was not significant. According to the results of this study, proper date palm nutrition by Chalkood or fertigation method along with net irrigation level of 60% cumulative evaporation from class A pan, saved 40% in water use, without significantly reducing the yield.