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Evaluation of Potentiality of Different Adjuvants for Date Palm Pollination and Fruit Set

Sugar Tech volume 23, pages 139–145 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

In commercial date palm cultivation, artificial pollination is an expensive necessary agronomic practice. For effective pollination, timely availability of pollen is a requisite; however, in time of pollen scarcity and/or in need of higher amount of pollen for mechanical pollination, dilution of pollen with adjuvant is an effective approach. We tested efficiency of pollination by mixing pollen with different low cost and easily available adjuvants, viz. Maida flour, wheat flour, talcum powder, bajra flour, ash and marble dust in 1:9 and 1:19 ratio, over control (no adjuvant) and evaluate their efficacy in sustaining the fruit set and yield. Our results suggest that all of the experimented adjuvants can be diluted up to 1:9 ratio; however, talcum powder can be diluted up to 1:19 without reducing fruit yield.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Date Palm Research Station, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Mundra-Kachchh, Gujarat, 370421, India

    Kapil Mohan Sharma, C. M. Muralidharan & D. A. Baidiyavadra

  2. ASPEE College of Horticulture and Forestry, Navsari Agricultural University, Navsari, Gujarat, 396450, India

    Kirti Bardhan

  3. Polytechnic in Agriculture, Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, Amirgadh-Banaskantha, Gujarat, 385130, India

    C. N. Panchal

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  1. Kapil Mohan Sharma
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  2. C. M. Muralidharan
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  3. D. A. Baidiyavadra
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  4. Kirti Bardhan
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  5. C. N. Panchal
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Contributions

KMS, CMM, DAB and CNP conceptualized the experiment and determined methodology and investigated the experimented and curated the data. KMS, CMM and DAB administered the project and did the formal analysis. KMS and KB validated the data and did visualization. KMS, CMM and KB written the original draft and did review and editing. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kapil Mohan Sharma.

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The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Consent for Publication

The experiment was conducted at Date palm Research Station, Mundra, under the jurisdiction of Sardarkrushinagar Dantiwada Agricultural University, and the authors have consent to publish the outcome of the experiment.

Human and Animal Rights Statement

The experiment does not involve any humans or animals, and thus, no such consent was taken. No commercial interest of any author or institution is involved

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Sharma, K.M., Muralidharan, C.M., Baidiyavadra, D.A. et al. Evaluation of Potentiality of Different Adjuvants for Date Palm Pollination and Fruit Set. Sugar Tech 23, 139–145 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-020-00885-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-020-00885-0

Keywords

  • Adjuvant
  • Filler
  • Date yield
  • Fruit set
  • Pollen dilution
  • Talcum powder