Publication
from Agroforestree Database: a tree reference and selection guide
version 4.0
by C. Orwa, A. Mutua, R. Kindt, R. Jamnadass and S. Anthony
Phoenix
dactylifera L.
Local Names:
Amharic (yetemir
zaf); Arabic (temer, tamar, khuriude-yális, nakhal); Bengali
(khajur); Creole (datte); Dutch (dadelpalm); English (wild date palm,
date, sugar palm, date palm); French (dattier, dattie, palmier dattier,
datte); German (dattelpalme); Hindi (ittappuzham, khaji, salma, khajur,
sendhi, khorjjuri); Italian (Palma del dattero); Spanish
(dátil,
datilera, palmera); Swahili (mtende); Swedish (dadelpalm); Tamil
(karchuram, perichchankay); Tigrigna (temri); Trade name (khaji,
khajur, date palm)
Family:
Arecaceae
Botanic
Description
Phoenix
dactylifera
grows to a height of over 30 m; the stem and new leaves grow from the
single terminal bud at the stem apex; roots grow from the base of the
trunk, sometimes 50 cm above the ground; main roots about 1.5 cm thick.
Leaves
enormous, up to 7 m long with a relatively short (50 cm) rachis base or
petiole; pinnate, the 50-60 pairs of leaflets long and narrow, attached
to a stout central midrib or rachis. They have a normal life of 3-7
years.
Inflorescence is produced in the axil of a 1-year-old
leaf; a branched spadix enclosed in a tough spathe that bursts open
when the flowers are mature. Male flowers waxy and creamy with 6
stamens and no carpels; female flowers whitish, with 6 rudimentary
stamens and 3 carpels.
Fruits are yellow to reddish-brown, each
with a single seed up to 2.5 cm long, deeply grooved, with a very hard
endosperm. There are hundreds of date cultivars, of which only about 60
are widely grown throughout the 15 major date-growing countries.
‘Phoenix’
is a very old name, used by Theophrastus, indicating that the tree was
1st introduced to the Greeks by the Phoenicians. The specific name
derives from the elongated shape of the fruits, resembling the fingers
of the hand, from the Greek word ‘dactylos’
(finger), and
the Latin word ‘fero’ (I bear).
Biology
In 4 or 5 years, the crown clears the ground and the 1st flowering can
be expected. P.
dactylifera
is dioecious. The many varieties are strongly out- breeding, so suckers
from quality trees are in high demand for their guaranteed quality.
Ecology
For commercial
production, a long summer with high day and night temperatures, a mild
winter without prolonged frost, and dry and sunny weather at
pollination, flowering and fruit setting are adequate. Its high salt
tolerance is largely attributable to its chloride ions exclusion
ability during water absorption from saline soils this however reduces
growth and results in poor quality fruits.
Biophysical
Limits
Altitude: Up to 1 500 m, Mean annual temperature: -15 to 50 deg C, Mean
annual rainfall: 100-300 mm
Soil types: Though the palms are grown in soils varying from sands to
clays, they should be well-drained. P. dactylifera is
tolerant to salinity in the soil.
Documented
Species Distribution
Native:
Morocco, Palestine
Exotic: Algeria, Egypt,
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Greece, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kenya,
Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Namibia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia,
Somalia, Spain, Sudan, Tunisia, Turkey, US, Zanzibar
The
map above shows countries where the species has been planted. It does
neither suggest that the species can be planted in every ecological
zone within that country, nor that the species can not be planted in
other countries than those depicted. Since some tree species are
invasive, you need to follow biosafety procedures that apply to your
planting site.
Products
Food:
The most important use of P.
dactylifera
is for its fruit, which forms the staple diet of many people in Africa
and the Middle East and is as well a cash crop for export. The seeds
are roasted and kernels ground as a coffee substitute. Terminal bud
leaves are eaten as a vegetable. The sap can be boiled into unrefined
sugar.
Fodder:
The seeds
(stones) when ground and softened by soaking in water are used for
feeding camels, goats and horses and have successfully been substituted
as a poultry feed.
Fuel:
The wood can be used as fuelwood.
Fibre: The
leaves are used in mats, ropes, fans and baskets; the petiole yields a
fibre, which together with other suitable material is used for
insulating boards.
Timber: The
trunks are strong and resistant to termites, providing much valued
construction timber.
Medicine: Dates
are a demulcent, an expectorant and a laxative, and are used to treat
respiratory diseases and fever. The tree yields a gum used in treating
diarrhoea.
Alcohol: Wherever
fruiting is poor, the sap is the main product. It can be drunk
fresh, fermented and drunk as toddy, or distilled and drunk as arrack.
The yield of sap varies with management and site conditions, but it is
in the range of 4-8 l/day.
Services
Erosion
control: The leaves are applied in sand dune stabilization.
Reclamation:
Being a halophytic species, P.
dactylifera has been used for decades for the revegetation
of salt affected lands in the Mediterranean region.
Boundary or
barrier or support: Dried leaves with their stiff, woody
rachis are used for fencing.
Soil improver: Prunings
of leaves are used as manure.
Ornamental:
The genus Phoenix
is one of the most widely cultivated groups of palms, its species being
extensively used for bold landscape planting, as individual specimens,
for avenue planting, and to a lesser extent, as potted plants.
Intercropping: P. dactylifera
while young occupies a lot of space, so a decision to
introduce it into cultivated fields must be taken carefully. But once
mature, its wide crown grows high above the field crops, and it little
affects the yield of cultivated crops. In many places, numerous palms
are found in arable fields of suitable regions.
Tree
Management
After
being removed from the mother tree, the trunk suckers must be planted
precisely at a spacing of 9-10 m apart in their locations. Watering is
essential in the 1st 1 or 2 years, and they must be weeded. Initial
growth is slow while the number of leaves increases gradually; the dead
leaves are usually removed. Pollination is critical for good fruiting;
therefore, pollen is usually artificially introduced to the female
flowers by cutting male inflorescence and placing it strategically
within the female one, which may be thinned a little to accommodate it.
It is important that male trees are planted with females in ratios of
about 1:50.
P.
dactylifera
hardly occurs in the natural state, so natural regeneration cannot be
said to occur. Propagation is usually done by trunk suckers, which may
be carefully removed from the mother tree. Propagation from seed is
done when there are no mature mother trees in the locality; this poses
no particular problems but takes longer. The seeds are sown in
containers and the young seedlings grown in the nursery for about 1
year before planting out in the field.
Germplasm
Management
Seed storage behaviour is orthodox, with little loss in viability after
1 year of storage at room temperature; viability can be maintained for
8-15 years at room temperature. Seeds tolerate desiccation to 5.8% mc;
no loss in viability after 3 years of subsequent hermetic storage.
There are approximately 800 seed/kg.
Pests and
Diseases
Diseases: Mites and insects (including Coleoptera, Homoptera, Isoptera and Lepidoptera) are
listed as damaging to P.
dactylifera. Pests include the bank grass mite (Olygonychus pratensis)
in the USA, Old-World date mite (O.
afrasiaticus), Iran and Iraq green scale (Asterolecanium phoenicus),
palm stalk borer (Pseudophilus
testaceus), and desert locust (Schistocera americana).
Several diseases have been reported in the date-growing areas,
including Bayoud disease, an epiphytotic disease caused by Fusarium oxysporium.
The affected fronds take on a leaden hue and then wither. Significant
reduction in the amount of irrigation water and isolation of diseased
trees by trenches up to 2 m deep have proved useful control measures.
Khamedi disease, an inflorescence rot caused by Mauginiella scaettae
affecting date-growing areas from Libya to Morocco, is another serious
plantation disease. Good sanitation and efficient maintenance of
date-growing areas have proved effective control measures. Other
diseases include graphiola leaf spot, diplodia disease, black scorch,
belaat disease, omphalia root rot, brown leaf spot and lethal yellowing.
Further
Reading
Anon. 1986. The useful plants of India. Publications &
Information Directorate, CSIR, New Delhi, India.
Bein E. 1996. Useful trees and shrubs in Eritrea. Regional Soil
Conservation Unit (RSCU), Nairobi, Kenya.
Bekele-Tesemma
A, Birnie A, Tengnas B. 1993. Useful trees and shrubs for Ethiopia.
Regional Soil Conservation Unit (RSCU), Swedish International
Development Authority (SIDA).
Cobley L.S & Steele W.M. 1976. An Introduction to the Botany of
Tropical Crops. Longman Group Limited.
Council
for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). 1986. The useful plants
of India. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi.
Djerbi M. 1983. Diseases of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.).
Erkkila A, Harri S. 1992. Silva Carelica Forestry in Namibia 1850-1990.
University of Joensuu.
Hocking D. 1993. Trees for Drylands. Oxford & IBH Publishing
Co. New Delhi.
Hong TD, Linington S, Ellis RH. 1996. Seed storage behaviour: a
compendium. Handbooks for Genebanks: No. 4. IPGRI.
ICRAF.
1992. A selection of useful trees and shrubs for Kenya: Notes on their
identification, propagation and management for use by farming and
pastoral communities. ICRAF. International Board for Plant Genetic
Resources (IBPGR). 1986. Genetic Resources of Tropical and sub-Tropical
Fruits and Nuts.
Lanzara P. and Pizzetti M. 1978. Simon & Schuster's Guide to
Trees. New York: Simon and Schuster
Nicholson B.E, Harrison S.G, Masefield G.B & Wallis M. 1969.
The Oxford Book of Food Plants. Oxford University Press.
Vogt
K. 1995. A field guide to the identification, propagation and uses of
common trees and shrubs of dryland Sudan. SOS Sahel International (UK).
Williams R.O & OBE. 1949. The useful and ornamental plants in
Zanzibar and Pemba. Zanzibar Protectorate.
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