Inflorescences of Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) are encapsulated in a cover known as spathe, containing essential oil. In this study the impact of growth location (Bam and Jiroft) on the essential oil content and composition of Date palm varieties (Piarom, Zahedi, Mozafati, and Hallilehie) was investigated. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. Results showed that effect of variety on morphological traits was more than growth location and Mozafati’ and ‘Hallilehie’ varieties showed the highest spathe length (55.06 and 48.80 cm). The highest spathe width was recorded for 'Mozafati’ and ‘Piarom’varieties (11.52 and 10.83 cm), and ‘Zahedi’ variety had the highest spathe number per palm tree (14.83). On the other hand, spathe fresh and dry weight and spathe dry matter yield in Bam (235.30 and 67.66 g/spathe, and 747.906 g/palm tree) were 38%, 48%, and 41% greater than those in Jiroft, respectively. The essential oil per palm tree in Bam (1.246 g) was 2.26 times greater than that in Jiroft (0.551 g). The ‘Mozafati’ variety had the highest spathe fresh weight, dry weight, and dry matter yield. The highest essential oil percentage (0.148-0.168%) belonged to ‘Zahedi’ and ‘Piarom’ varieties. The essential oils of all four varieties in both growth location contained five chemical compounds of 3,4-dimethoxytoluene (58.7-71.2 %), p-methylanisole (4.2-30.0 %), 2,6-dimethoxytoluene (8.6-16.8 %), n-nonanol (0.6-4.1%), and o-vanillin (0.5-2.6%). The studied varieties were divided into two groups in terms of their effectiveness from the growth location. The Hallilehie and Mozafati varieties showed higher relative stability.

Background: The aim of this study was ethanol production from Date palm by yeasts isolated from Date palm.Methods: Isolation of yeasts was done according to KIran Sree et al. (2000). For juice preparation from Date palm, 100 grams of Zahdi Date were mixed with 1 liter distilled water and after mixing them, they were filtered through filter paper. The obtained filtrate was autoclaved in 121oC for 15 min. 1% of 24-hour culture of yeast was used as the inoculum. Determination of ethanol content was done based on dichromate potassium procedure by some modification.Results: In the result 5 isolates including D1, D2, D3, D4 and D5 were isolated from Date palm. Among these isolates, D4 was the best isolate and produced 4.9% and 3.2% ethanol in aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively. Results of assimilation and fermentation tests of carbohydrates showed that this isolate is Pichia burtonii.Conclusion: In conclusion, this isolate can be used for ethanol production in large scales. Although the ethanol yield is low, maximum being, 4.9% produced by Pichia burtonii D4, the strain can produce more ethanol by optimization of culture conditions.

Goudarzi, A. (2023). Fusarium wilt disease of Date palm. Plant Pathology Science, 12(1), 64-73.        Abstract Fusarium wilt disease is known as one of the most destructive and fatal diseases of Date trees in many Date-producing areas of the world, especially Date-producing countries in Africa. Currently, a significant portion of Date orchards in Morocco and the western and central Sahara of Algeria are affected by Fusarium wilt disease. The economic losses caused by Fusarium wilt disease of Dates, especially in the incidence of severe epidemics, are significant. Over the past century, the disease has killed more than 12 million palm trees in Morocco and about three million palm trees in Algeria. Fusarium oxysporum (Schltdl.) f. sp. albedinis, a soil-borne vascular pathogen, is known to cause Fusarium wilt disease of Dates. The economic losses caused by this disease are very significant, especially in the incidence of severe epidemics, and in some areas, the Fusarium wilt epidemic has destroyed more than 70% of the Date fruits. Integrated disease management strategies include the use of resistant or tolerant cultivars, prevention of introduction of the disease causal agent into disease-free areas, eradication of the disease, biological control and chemical control. This disease has not been reported from Date-producing areas of Iran, although similar symptoms to Fusarium wilt have been observed in some Date orchards of Hormozgan province.

The Date palm fruit stalk borer, Oryctes elegans Prell. (Col.: Scarabeaidae) is a serious pests of Date palm in Bam region, Iran. In this research, demographic parameters O. elegans were studied under controlled conditions at 27±2oC and 65±5% RH and 16:8 L: D. Data were analyzed based on an age-stage, two-sex life table, to take both sexes and variable development into consideration. Developmental time mean for egg, larvae and pupa were obtained 16.4, 216.8 and 26.2 respectively. In the laboratory, 5.2, 22.6 and 3.2% died in the egg, larval and pupal stage, respectively. The intrinsic rate of increase (rm), finite rate of increase (l), gross reproductive rate (GRR), net reproductive rate (R0), doubling time (DT) and mean generation time (T) were 0.002d-1, 1.002d-1, 71.6 offspring, 42.3 offspring, 110.7d and 328.5d respectively. These facts indicated that O. elegans is a univoltine species.

Date palm spider mite is one of the major pests of Date palm in Khuzestan.This pest damages fruits in orchards. In the present study responses of 30 native Date palm cultivars of Khuzestan were evaluated by assessment of pest infestation severity and fruit damage characteristics. Based on the responses, cultivars were clustered into four groups as very highly infested cultivars including Liloei, Berhee, Zahedi, Deiri, Ashkar, and Berim, highly infested cultivars including Halavi, Beliani, Sovidani, Hadak, Shkar, Bent Alsabae, Dagal zard, Khazravi and Sayer, moderately infested cultivars including Bobki, Chabchab, Mashtom, Jahromi, Amobahri, Dagal sorkh, Fersi and Hadal and less infested cultivars including Khasab, Hamravi, Hasavi, Ashagh, Jozi and Gantar. The characters such as bunch weight, fruits number, fruit skin thickness had significant correlation with the Date palm spider mite injury. Other characteristics did not show significant correlation with the mite injury.

Offshoot planting is the most common way of propagating Date palms. Due to the limitation of the number of offshoots produced by each palm tree and the problems with their transferring and planting, the tissue culture technique is recommended for palm propagation. Tissue culture plantlets are completely similar to the mother stock. But in some cases (like as Date palm cv. Barhee) this method shows somaclonal variation, such as abnormalities in pollination and fertility. Gene expression analysis can determine the molecular mechanism of somaclonal variation. Therefore, in this research, we investigated the expression of some genes affecting Date palm pollination and fertilization, including Ubiquitin (UBQ), Metallothionein (MT), Phosphofructokinase (PFK), and Polyadenylate binding (PABP), in the Barhee cultivar at three stages of the inflorescence spathe growth (15, 25, and 35 cm long) with three replicates. The transcription amplification results showed that there was a significant difference in the mutual effects of spathe growth stages and propagation methods on gene expression. The expression levels of PFK and PABP were 1.6 and 1.3 times respectively, in tissue culture propagated palms comparing to offshoot propagated palms only at the initial stage of spot growth. However, the expression level of UBQ and MT genes was lower in tissue culture palms than in offshoot palms in all stages of spathe growth. We also investigated the protein network interacting with MT and found a relationship and interaction of this protein with proteins effective in male sterility and seed development.

In order to the evaluation of the effects of Canary Island palm pollen on the fruit characteristics of commercial Date palms cvs ‘Medjool’ and ‘Barhee’ and the possibility of use of the pollen of this specie for Date palm pollination, the current study was conducted for two consecutive years in Date palm and Tropical fruits Research Center. The research was conducted as two separate experiments in a randomized complete block design with three treatments of pollen type (Canary Island palm including ‘G1’ and ‘G2’ and Date palm cv ‘Red Ghanami’ as control) and three replications (18 trees that were 15 years old). Each palm has considered as an experiment unit. Results showed, traits of percentage of fruit set, parthenocarpy, and fruit drop in ‘Barhee’ cultivar were not affected by pollen source and no significant difference was obsereved between Canary Island palm pollinizers and ‘Red Ghanami’ pollinizer regarding these traits, but these traits were affected by pollen source in ‘Medjool’ cultivar. Canary Island palm pollinizers reduced seed weight, seed length and seed diameter of ‘Barhee’ cultivar significantly. While seed characteristics of ‘Medjool’ cultivar were not affected by Canary Island palm pollens. Qualitative characteristics of ‘Medjool’ and ‘Barhee’ fruits were also affected by Canary Island palm pollens. Overall, at the conditions of Date palm pollen deficiency, the use of Canary Island palm pollens (3 g per spathe) for the pollination of ‘Barhee’ cultivar is recommended and for other cultivars more research is needed.