Shabwa Governorate is famous for a great collection of phoenix dactylifera genotypes, which have not been studied yet. This study aimed to identify botanical characteristics of Shabwa phoenix dactylifera, using two forms: 1) contains standard characteristics of observed values according to references; and 2) tackles sensory aspects (color, storage, … etc.). It also relied on interviews with farmers to record other characteristics like consumption type. The genotypes: Socotri; Azzani, Asfar, Ahmar Urqudi, Jazr, Hamsel, Al-Maysari and al-Gadhr, were identified, most of which tended to be minimal (average to small), with medium to short fronds length (average 299.44 cm), narrow to short wickers (average 39.77 cm) of 2.83 cm width, and with an average of 165.22 wickers/fronds. The raffia was less condensed and prickles were short (average 6.5 cm), and with an average of 14.88 spikes/fronds. The average length of thorn zone was 69 cm appeared as a long zone compared to frond length. The genotypes yielded average size dates (small to medium), that are consumed when ripe, during pollination, aplasia (pre-ripe), and totally ripe (manasef). Most of Shabwa's date-palm genotypes trees tend to be of primitive characters with tall spikes, short fronds, resembling thus wild date-palm genotypes. This fact should be considered when tackling the origin of date-palm tree.
Download Search :PDF