EFFECTS OF BUNCH THINNING ON YIELD AND FRUIT QUALITY OF 'KHALAS' DATE PALM

‘Khalas’ date palm cultivar grown at the Agriculture Research and Experiment Station, Dirab, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh was thinned by removing 15 and 30% of the total number of strands from the center of each bunch. In general, the average yield per palm and per bunch for the different treatments was lower than the control treatment (non-thinning). Thinning treatments improved both physical and chemical characteristics of fruits (at beser and tamur stages), where they significantly increased fruit weight, flesh weight, fruit size, fruit length, fruit diameter, first grade of fruit percent, total soluble solids, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugar, total sugar and fruit moisture content than those of the control treatment. Removing 30% of the total number of strands from the center of each bunch, four weeks after pollination produced the highest fruit quality and could be considered as a recommended treatment in such experiment.