A RECENT PERSPECTIVE ON PROMISING POLLINATION TECHNIQUES IN PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L

Phoenix Dactylifera L. (Date palm) is a dioecious crop where male and female inflorescences are on separate palms. To ensure good fertilization and overcome shortcomings of dichogamy, sustain yield levels and enhance fruit set, each female inflorescence has to be artificially pollinated. The manual method of pollinating date palms has gained popularity and confidence of farmers over thousands of years. Although different mechanical pollination techniques have been tried in some parts of the globe, improved and sustainable date fruit production is still a major challenge for plant breeders. This paper highlights the recent progress in the area of date palm pollination, associated tools and technologies used to improve yield and fruit quality. The study reviews different pollination methods and its feasibility analysis in Phoenix Dactylifera L. namely, the natural means; traditionally adopted manual method; nonconventional methods, such as, liquid suspension spray techniques and powder/dust pollination approaches; adopted on different cultivars; in different geographic locations where date palms are widely grown. A comparative study based on parameters such as yield, fruit set, fruit quality, popularity of the technique among farmers etc. is also made. This study intends to add value to the adoption of best practices for cultivation of the palms, thereby helping minimize diminished quality and increase marketable quantity of dates.