Study of xenia effect and some treatments on the biochemical characteristics of the seeds and seedlings of date palm Phoenix dactylifera L.

Abstract

The current study was conducted at the Agricultural Research Station of the college of Agriculture / University of Basra during the 2017-2018 seasons. The seeds were randomly collected from the mature fruits of two female cultivars (Hillawi and Sayer) which previously pollinated with pollen grains of four male cultivars (Ghanami Akhther, Khukri Smismi, Dery and Abulshok). The study included the xenia effect of male cultivars and treatment of seeds with some bioactive substances, including humic acid at concentrations (0, 300, 500 mg. L -1) and gibberellin (0, 200, 300 mg.L-1) by seeds soaking for one day and then kept in plastic containers content paper tissues moistened with distilled water. The results showed that, the significant superiority of the Hillawi cv. for all examined traits (98%, 17 day, 25 mm) as germination percentage, germination period and cotyledon sheath respectively, and of Dery (99%, 15 days and 23 mm) with significant different compared to other male cultivars. Also treatment with gibberellin at 300 mg.L-1 showed significant superiority compared to other concentrations was (96%, 5 day and 33 mm) for above traits respectively. The interaction showed that, the treatment of Hillawi seeds derived from pollination with male cv. Dery and gibberellin at 300 mg.L-1 led to increase following parameters; seed germination (99%), germination period (4 day) and cotyledon sheath (35 mm).