SOME PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SEVERAL LIBYAN DATE PALM CULTIVARS

Eight date palm cultivars (Phoenix dactylifera L.) grown in Sabha, Libya, namely: ‘Talees’, ‘Tasfert’, ‘Taghiat’, ‘Adhwi’, ‘Amreer’, ‘Bustian’, ‘Sotrah’ and ‘Asber’ were included in this study. Five 8-10-year-old trees were randomly chosen from each cultivar. The characteristics studied were: spike length, number of spikes/tree and number of spikelet/spike. Also 20 fruits were randomly collected from each spike to study: fruit weight, length, width and flesh thickness. Seed weight, length and width were measured too. Results showed that there were significant differences between the cultivars in the studied parameters. ‘Talees’ spikes were the longest (129.4 cm), ‘Sotrah’ and ‘Amreer’ were the shortest. ‘Tasfert’ produced the highest number of spikes/tree and ‘Bustian’ the lowest number. On the other hand, ‘Adhwi’ had the heaviest fruit (14.5 g), while ‘Sotrah’ fruits were the lightest (7.6 g). The results are discussed in detail.