Effect of Different Time for Spathes Bagging on Fruit Set, Yield and Quality of Barhi and Majdool Date Palm under Sudan Climatic Conditions

Bagging spathes time is one of the most important factor, which affect fruit set, yield and physicochemical characteristics of date palm cv. Barhi and Majdool date palm under Sudan condition were assessed under agro climatic conditions of Sudan during 2015, 2016 and 2017 growing seasons. Treatments consisted of five varied bagging timings using kraft paper i.e., at spathe bagging 15, 30, 45 and 60 days after pollination compared with control (unbagging). Data were collected for fruit set (%), fruit drop (%), fruit yield (kg/ palm) and some of physicochemical quality parameters. Results revealed that bagging times affected all the parameters significantly. Maximum fruit set and fruit yield and best fruit quality and minimum fruit drop of two cultivars from bagging at spathes 30 days after pollination. Fruit quality improved the overall fruit physicochemical quality characteristics with maximum fruit length, fruit width, fruit volume, fruit weight, total soluble solids, total acidity and total sugars. This study proved that bagging spathes after pollination 30days was more effective for optimum fruit set and economic yield and best fruit quality.