تأثير الرش بمستخلص اوراق المورينكا وتغطية العذوق في بعض الصفات النوعية لثمار صنفين من نخيل التمر phoenix dactylifera. L

Effect of spraying with Moringa leaf extract and covering the bunches on some qualitative characteristics of two date palm cultivars Phoenix

The study was carried out at the Fadak palm farm of the Imam Hussainiya Shrine / Karbala
Governorate during the growing season 2021 to know the effect of spraying with Moringa leaf
extract and coverage on some physical and qualitative characteristics of date palm cultivars
Phoenix dactylifera L. Al-Khadrawi Basra and Al-Buraim.
The study was designed with a randomized complete block design, R.C.B.D. The experiment
included three factors: The first factor was spraying with Moringa leaf extract in three
concentrations (0,10,20)% on the bunches, where the fruits were sprayed three times, between
one spray and another 21 days, and the first spray was after 7 weeks of pollination (the end of
the Hababuk stage and the beginning Al-Jamri stage), while the second factor was bagging
with closed-end paper bags and covering the bunches immediately after the first spray, and the
bags were lifted when spraying the extract and they were removed at the third spray. Spraying
and covering was carried out on two date palm cultivars, Al-Khadrawi Basra and Al Buraim,
as the third factor. Means were compared using Duncan’s polynomial test at 0.05 probability
level.
The most important results can be summarized as follows:
1- Most of the qualitative characteristics of the fruits improved when the bunches were
sprayed with Moringa leaf extract. The treatment of spraying with a concentration of
20% was superior to the physical characteristics (fruit length, diameter, size, soft weight
and flesh weight) as they reached (35.419 mm, 23.907 mm, 10.582 cm3, 12.122g,
11.157g) respectively, followed by the spraying treatment at a concentration of 10%,
while the comparison treatment recorded the lowest rates. The same treatment (20%)
also excelled in the chemical properties, as it achieved the highest percentages of total
soluble solids (TSS), total sugars, reducing sugars and invertase enzyme activity,
reaching (57.233%, 51.759%, 45.052%, 168.187 international units. g-1) , respectively,
while the same treatment achieved the lowest results in the traits of sucrose percentage,
neutralizing acidity and tannins percentage, which amounted to (6.707, 0.701, 0.361%),
while the comparison treatment reached the highest percentages (8.829, 0.950, 0.464%)
respectively.
2- The effect of the bagging factor did not have a significant effect on most of the physical
characteristics, except for the characteristic of the diameter of the fruit, which was
significantly affected, as it reached 23.323 mm, while the treatment without coveringII
was recorded at 22.414 mm. On the other hand, bagging had a significant and clear
effect on the chemical quality of the fruits, where significant differences were recorded
in the percentage of water content, percentage of total soluble solids, total sugars,
reducing sugars and invertase enzyme activity, their percentages reached (28.572%,
55.549%, 50.655%, 43.654%, 161. 920 international units. g-1) compared to uncovered
treatments. The bagging reduced the sucrose percentage by 7.001% and the neutralizing
acidity percentage by 0.758%. As for the productive traits, the bag increased the
maturity percentage , bunch weight and total yield (65.277% , 4.096 kg , 24.520 kg)
respectively.
3- The results showed the superiority of Al-Khadrawi cultivar in most of the studied traits,
where the length of the fruit reached 35.284 mm, its volume was 10.347 cm3, its soft
weight was 11.064 g, the seed weight was 1.039 g, the flesh weight was 10.025g, the
water content was 31.331%, the total soluble solids 55.865%, and the total sugars
50.748%, reducing sugars 43.879%, invertase activity 165.383 international units. g-1,
tannins 0.431%, and precipitation 21.717% compared to the Al- Buraim variety, which
was superior in the percentage of dry matter and sucrose (76.433%, 8.673 %)
respectively, while it did not differ the two cultivars in the characteristics of the fruit
diameter, the proportion of acidity that can be neutralized, the percentage of maturity,
the weight of the bunch and the total yield.
4- The effect of the two- and three-way interaction between the studied factors was similar
or superior to their single effects in improving most of the studied physical and
qualitative traits, and the response of Al-Khadrawi cultivar was higher compared to the
Al-Buraim cultivar.