• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.267-274
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• 2023

All studies on date palm somatic embryogenesis have focused on germination in the presence of light while neglecting germination in darkness, which mimics the germination process of zygotic embryos within seeds. To improve the date palm micropropagation protocol, we investigated the effects of light and darkness incubation on the germination of indirect date palm somatic embryos and their subsequent conversion into plantlets. Darkness incubation emerged as a pivotal factor in the germination of indirect date palm somatic embryos and their successful conversion into plantlets. Darkness incubation significantly decreased the time required for the conversion of indirect somatic embryos into plantlets, halving the duration from 24 weeks to only 12 weeks. The micropropagation protocol was modified, consolidating the previous two distinct stages of germination and elongation under light incubation into a single stage under darkness incubation. These findings modified the protocol and significantly reduced the overall duration of the date palm micropropagation protocol.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.31-36
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• 2010

Sixteen microsatellite markers (simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers) were employed to examine the genetic stability of 27 randomly chosen date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) plants produced through somatic embryogenesis with upto forty two in vitro subcultures. No microsatellite DNA variation was observed among all micropropagated plants. Our results indicate that the micropropagation protocol used for rapid in vitro multiplication is appropriate and suitable for clonal propagation of date palm and corroborated that somatic embryogenesis can also be used as one of the safe modes for production of true-to-type plants of date palm. This is the first report on the use of microsatellite DNA markers to establish the genetic stability in micropropagated date palm plants.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Traditional Landscape Architecture
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.34-44
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• 2018

In the Ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Judas, Greece, and Rome, Phoenix dactylifera was planted in gardens or orchards to signify life, blessing, and victory. Branches of Phoenix dactylifera, likened to high and precious, were referred to one of the gifts to the king in the second century BC and have been used in the Feast of Tabernacles. And they were engraved on the walls of the temple and along with cherub. Besides, Phoenix dactylifera is compared with a righteous person in the Bible since it grows straight despite strong winds. And, it was used as a symbol of honesty, justice, and right. Churches call the week before Easter Palm Sunday since the crowd laid the leaves of date palm trees on the road and shouted "Hosanna" while waving the date palm branches when Jesus entered Jerusalem. Moreover, pilgrim in the Middle Ages was called 'Palmer' in English due to custom of returning with the leaves and branches of date palm trees as a memorial of the Holy Land pilgrimage. This study analyzes naming issue of Phoenix dactylifera through the old literature and 27 versions of the most influential Bibles in History of Bible Translation in Korea, China, and Japan. Phoenix dactylifera is translated into Chinese as '棕櫚(Trachycarpus fortunei)', a native tree of China. 棕櫚 is similar to Phoenix dactylifera, but its fruit and leaf are quite distinct. This being so, translating Phoenix dactylifera as 棕櫚 has a limit to convey symbolic meaning adequately. In the Japanese Bible, on the other hand, Phoenix dactylifera is translated as 'なつめやし(Natsumeyashi)' meant date palm tree. Most of Protestant Bible in Korea use 'Jongryeo' like Chinese Bible while translation in Korean Catholic Bible(2005) varies from one scripture to another: 'Yaja Namu (Palm Tree)' - 38 times, 'Jongryeo Namu' - 5 times, and 'Daechu Yaja Namu (Date Palm Tree)' - 3 times. Date Palm Tree, 'Jongryeo Tree', and Palm Tree don't grow in Korea. However, they had long been recognized as Haejo(海棗), Jongryeo(?櫚), and Yaja(椰子) respectively through China and Japan. Each of them called by a distinct name correspond with its own characteristic and used separately in Korean Classics as Jongryeo and Haejo were identified in ancient Chinese literatures. It seems that more confusion was raised since 'Palm' was translated as 'Jongryeo' in several books including "?藤和英大辭典 (1915)", "Modern 朝鮮外來語辭典(1938)", and "Latin-Korean Dictionary(1995)". However, the Latin term 'Palmae' is translated into English as either palm tree or date palm. The results of this study suggest that more accurate translation of Phoenix dactylifera in the Bible would be 'Daechu Yaja Namu (Date Palm Tree)' and using different name fit for its own characteristic would be more appropriate.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.81-91
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• 2011

An exploratory study was conducted in Gopalganj, a southern district of Bangladesh to explore the role of wild date palm (Phoenix sylvestris Roxb.) husbandry in the rural economy. A total of 36 households in the study area were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. A multistage sampling method with 10% intensity and a semi-structured questionnaire were used for the study. Based on the land holding capacity of the households, the farmers were categorized into five groups as landless, marginal, small, medium, and large. The date palm was distributed over seven different habitats of which roadside support the highest value (31%) followed by agricultural field and orchard (25% each). Though the large category farmers own most of the palms (43%), a considerable portion (562 individuals out of 1980) of it is managed by the landless farmers, who earn a substantial livelihood from the palms. The farmers manage the palm mainly for juice production; juice is either used fresh as drink or after some sort of processing as molasses and/or alcoholic beverage. Date palm husbandry contributes 32,601 Tk., 21,107 Tk., 20,626 Tk., 29,574 Tk. and 35,335 Tk. respectively to the five group seasonally and 50,980 Tk., 77,556 Tk., 90,208 Tk., 112,560 Tk., 140,675 Tk. respectively annually (1 US$ = 70 Tk.). Date palm trees contribute 65.48% of mean annual income to landless farmers followed by 27.21% to marginal farmers. However the poor marketing system result in decreasing the annual return from palm trees. Palm husbandry could be a promising source of rural incomes in Bangladesh if the farmers' traditional management knowledge was linked to more scientific management practices.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.165-167
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• 2002

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) is an important fruit and cash crop in Sultanate of Oman, occupying nearly 60% of the total cultivated area. However, leaf spots caused by Mycosphaerella tassiana, Alternaria spp., and Dreshcleri sp. have become a threat to date palm's cultivation in recent years. In this study, a field experiment was conducted to find out a suitable chemical spray program to control the disease. A prophylactic spray schedule with mancozeb (Dithane M45), copper oxychloride (Champion), and mancozeb+copper (Trimiltox) effectively controlled the disease when applied at a time when the disease severity index (DSI) was low, ranging from 0 to 1.68. Meanwhile, the disease did not decrease, but instead increased gradually, when the fungicide combination was applied when DSI was high, ranging from 1.78 to 5.37. It was concluded that fungicides should be applied at the early stage or before disease initiation in order to control the disease effectively.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.6
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• pp.1282-1288
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• 2020

In the first study, the Radon emanation and radiological hazards associated with radionuclides in soil samples, collected from 9 various date palm farms located in 3 different districts in Saudi Arabia were determined through a high purity Germanium (HPGe) gamma-ray spectrometer. The estimated average values of Radon emanation coefficient and Radon mass exhalation rate for soil samples were 0.535 ± 0.016 and 50.063 ± 7.901 mBqkg^-1h^-1, respectively. The annual effective dose of radionuclides in all sampling locations was found to be lower than UNSCEAR's recommended level of 0.07 mSvy^-1 for soil in an outdoor environment. In the secondary study, gross α and gross β activities in soil and date palm pits samples were measured by a low background α/β counting system. Average values of gross α and gross β activities in soil and date palm pits samples were 5.761 ± 0.360 Bqkg^-1, 38.219 ± 8.619 Bqkg^-1 and 0.556 ± 0.142 Bqkg^-1, 24.266 ± 1.711 Bqkg^-1, respectively.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.627-634
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• 2020

The past years were marked by an increase in the use of wood waste in civil and mechanical constructions. Date palm waste remains also one of the most solicited renewable and recyclable natural resources in the composition of composite materials. In Algeria, a great amount of this type of plant wastes accumulates every year. In order to make use of this waste, a new wood-epoxy composite material based on date palm petiole particleboard is developed. It makes use of date palm petiole particleboard as reinforcement and epoxy resin as matrix. The size of the particles reinforcement are between 1~3 mm and proportion of reinforcement used is 37%. In this work, experimental and numerical studies are conducted in order to characterize the wood fibre-epoxy plates. Firstly, experimental modal analysis test was carried out to determine Young's modulus of the elaborated material. Then, in order to validate the results, compression test was conducted. Furthermore, additional information about the shear modulus of this material is obtained by performing an experimental modal analysis to extract the first torsional mode. Moreover, a finite element model is developed using ANSYS software to simulate the vibration behaviour of the plates. The results show a good agreement with the experimental modal analysis, which confirms the values of Young's modulus and shear modulus.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.190-199
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• 2023

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.: Arecaceae) is a dioecious species where only female trees bear fruits. In their natural state, date palms produce dates once a year. However, in Thailand, some trees were observed to produce dates during the off-season, despite no variations in morphology. The availability of such off-season fruits can significantly increase their market value. Interestingly, most female off-season date palms investigated in this study were obtained through micropropagation. Hence, there is an urgent need for genetic markers to distinguish female offseason flowering plantlets within tissue culture systems. In this study, we aimed to develop random amplification of polymorphic DNA-sequence characterized amplified region (RAPD-SCAR) markers for the identification of female off-season flowering date palms cultivated in Thailand. A total of 160 random decamer primers were employed to screen for specific RAPD markers in off-season flowering male and female populations. Out of these, only one primer, OPN-02, generated distinct genomic DNA patterns in female off-season flowering (FOFdp) individuals compared to female seasonal flowering genotypes. Based on the RAPD-specific sequence, specific SCAR primers denoted as FOFdpF and FOFdpR were developed. These SCAR primers amplified a single 517-bp DNA fragment, predominantly found in off-season flowering populations, with an accuracy rate of 60%. These findings underscore the potential of SCAR marker technology for tracking offseason flowering in date palms. Notably, a BLAST analysis revealed a substantial similarity between the SCAR marker sequence and the transcript variant mRNA from Phoenix dactylifera encoding the SET DOMAIN GROUP 40 protein. In Arabidopsis, this protein is involved in the epigenetic regulation of flowering time. The genetic potential of the off-season flowering traits warrants further elucidation.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.327-336
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• 2020

Conventional researches on the behavior of fiber-reinforced and unreinforced soils often investigated the failure point. In this study, a concept is proposed in the comparison of the fiber-reinforced with unreinforced sand, by estimating the strength and strength ratio at different levels of strain. A comprehensive program of laboratory drained triaxial compression test was performed on compacted sand specimens, with and without date palm fiber. The fiber inclusion used in triaxial test specimens was form 0.25%-1.0% of the sand dry weight. The effect of the fiber inclusion and confining pressure at 0.5%, 1.0%, 1.5%, 3.0%, 6.0%, 9.0%, 12%, and 15% of the imposed strain levels on the specimen were considered and described. The results showed that, the trend and magnitude of the strength ratio is different for various strain levels. It also implies that, using failure strength from peak point or the strength corresponding to the axial strain of approximately 15% for evaluating the enhancement of strength or strength ratio, due to the reinforcement, may cause hazard and uncertainty in practical design. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the strength of fiber-reinforced specimen at the imposed strain level, compared to the unreinforced specimen.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.153-158
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• 2021

In this study, we will determined the total phenolic content (TPC) and the antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract (ME) of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera. L) fruits (DPF) of four native cultivars from Algeria: Ghars (Gh), Chtaya (Cht), DeglaBeïda (DB) and Tinissine (Tns). The TPC of ME of DPF was measured by using Folin-Ciocalteu. Thereafter, the antioxidant capacity of various extracts was determined using DPPH test, reducing power and superoxide anion test. These results showed that dates had strongly scavenging activity on DPPH. The value of IC50 for DPPH radical test was 0.077 mg/ml in Cht. Also, Cht cultivar showed the best-reducing power, which was significantly higher than the other varieties. The less IC50 value in cyclic voltammetry method (CV), which meets the highest effective antioxidant, was 0.006 mg/ml in methanolic extract of Cht.