Silicon and Selenium Impact on Fruit Set, Yield and Fruit Quality of Selmy Date Palms Grown Under Sandy Soil Conditions
Keywords:
Date palm, Selmy cultivar, Silicon, Selenium, yield, fruit traitsAbstract
This investigation was carried out during two consecutive seasons (2020 and 2021) on Selmy date palm cultivar grown on sandy soil at a confidential grove existing at point of 63 kilometer from Cairo- Alexandria desert road. The objective of this study was to monitor the alleviating effects of spraying silicon (Si) at 0.1 and 0.2%, selenium (Se) at 0.02 and 0.04% each alone or in combinations on fruit set%, fruit retention%, yield (kg) and some physical and chemical fruit traits. The results of the two seasons revealed that spraying Si and Se gave the best ameliorative mean values for the yield and fruit properties of Selmy date palm cultivar. However, Si was superior when comparing with Se in this concern. Combined applications were favorable than using each of Si or Se alone in this connection. Generally, treating Selmy date palm twice with a mixture of silicon at 0.2% + Selenium at 0.04% was the best, since it improved the yield with better fruit quality comparing with the other treatments.