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

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.