Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), commonly grown in the hot arid zones predominantly in the Middle East and North Africa, provides highly healthy fruits in addition to multiple uses for all parts of the tree. With the interest of many countries of the world in the direction towards planting palm trees, it was therefore significant to point out the importance of agricultural practices that are concerned with serving the palm crown, such as pollination, pruning, fruit thinning, bunch covering, and bagging fruits. The paramount importance of soil service and irrigation operations that will obtain the highest productivity of trees and achieve remunerative profits for the stakeholders and those interested in the palm sector from breeders and factory owners are shown. The latest technologies and modern programs that serve this essential agricultural sector were reviewed.
TopIntroduction
The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is considered as one of the world's oldest cultivated fruit trees. The Arecaceae or Palmae family includes the genus Phoenix. It consists of 14 species, the most well-known of which is the widely cultivated date palm, Phoenix dactylifera (Figure 1a, WCSP, 2013). It has a value of great importance, which makes it one of the most critical major economic crops, as it has many uses that vary between food and industry, as the industrial processes based on this crop vary, starting from the exploitation of the fruits in various manufacturing processes, whether in the form of date molasses or jam, and through the exploitation of the seeds are used to make coffee, as well as the date burger, dates of religion, date ketchup, in addition to pickled dates from the fruits of the baser, and we also use the palm stalk in the work of the ceiling, and cellulose is extracted from the leaves, and recently bioplastics can be produced from the biomass unit with it, there are several advantages for the different parts of date palm tree in industrial products, trunk can be used for furniture, leaves have particular importance in making shades and roofs, and the fibers of trunk and leaves used for manufacturing of mats, papers, bags, baskets, ropes, cords (El Hadrami & Al-Khayri, 2012). In addition to it. To the possibility of producing charcoal and activated charcoal for various uses in laboratory purposes, in food farms, and in medical purposes (Al-Mssallem et al., 2019; Ashraf & Hamidi-Esfahani, 2011; El Hadrami & Al-Khayri, 2012; Gantait et al., 2018; Kulkarni et al., 2010; Tang et al., 2013). It is also used for ornamental purposes and ornamental works by using papers to make bouquets and some religious occasions in some non-Islamic countries; among these species especially P.canariensis, P.roebelenii, P. canariensisor and P. theophrasti.
Figure 1. Distribution of the Phoenix species. Based on; (Map by (Carreño et al., 2007; Gros-Balthazard, 2013; Munier, 1973; Pintaud et al., 2010)