THE EFFECT OF THINNING ON FRUIT DROP OF DATE PALM 'KHANEZI'

This study was conducted at the Wadi Quriyat Date Palm Research Station, Bahla Governorate, Sultanate of Oman in 2002, 2003, and 2004 to investigate the pattern of date palm ‘Khanezi’ fruit drop and the effect of thinning treatments on reducing fruit drop. In addition the experiment consisted of three treatments; thinning 1/4 of total number of bunches, thinning ¼ of total strands per bunch, and control (no thinning). The experiment was designed as Complete Randomized Block Design (CRBD) and each treatment had three replicates.
The results showed that there were two waves of heavy fruit drop; the first one onset 60 days after fruit set while the second wave onset after 90 days after fruit set. The strand thinning treatment decreased fruit drop in the second wave and gave a higher yield in comparison with bunch thinning and control treatments.