EFFECTS OF WATER STRESS ON QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE FRUIT CHARACTERISTICS OF DATE PALM (PHOENIX DACTYLIFERA L.)

Date palm is an important fruit in Iran. Flowering and fruit set stages are the most critical in date palm development as they play important roles in crop production. Different studies have shown that some plants are very sensitive to water stress at these two stages. In order to investigate the effects of water stress and irrigation regime, this study was carried out in a randomized complete block design with five timings of irrigation: namely after 50, 100, 150 and 200 mm evaporation from a class A pan with irrigation depth equal to 100% net irrigation requirement and after 200 mm evaporation from a class A pan with irrigation depth equal to 50% net irrigation requirement. There were four replications during the flowering and fruit set stages. The quantitative and qualitative characteristics of fruit such as weight, volume, length, diameter, moisture, pH, titratable acidity, total soluble solids concentration, total soluble sugar and concentration of N, P and K elements were determined. The results showed that the effects of the irrigation treatments on fruit drop, fruit and stone weight, fruit diameter and yield were all significant. There was no significantly difference among fruit qualitative characteristics. The highest yield was obtained with irrigation after 50 mm evaporation from the chass A pan.