Strand thinning of Khadrawi date palm cultivar in relation to yield and fruit quality

Abstract Background This experiment was carried out during 2015 and 2016 seasons to investigate the effect of strand thinning treatments by removing 15 and 30% of the total number of strands from the bunch center after 8 weeks from pollination (kimri stage) on productivity and fruit quality of Khadrawi date palm cultivar compared to the control (without thinning). Results The present results indicated that strand thinning by removing 30% of the total number of strands gave the lowest bunch weight and yield per palm compared to thinning 15% and control treatments during the two seasons of study. Also, removing 30% of the total number of strands improved some physical properties, i.e., fruit weight, flesh weight, fruit length, and fruit diameter than control in both seasons. All strand thinning treatments improved some chemical properties such as TSS %, total sugars %, and reducing sugars % than control (without thinning). However, both 15 and 30% strand thinning treatments had no significant effect on nonreducing sugars %, total acidity %, and tannins content in the two studied seasons. Conclusion From the obtained results, it was revealed that application of thinning treatment by removing 15 or 30% of the total number of strands from bunch center improved some physical and chemical properties of Khadrawi date palm fruits although there are no significant differences found between strand thinning at 15% and control during the second season.