Fresh date palm fruits (cv. Barhi) have received much attention due to their sweet taste and popularity in marketing. There is a critical need to prolong their storability, as well as maintain their quality during the postharvest and marketing periods. In this study, the effects of spraying date palm trees with melatonin (Mt) and/or methyl jasmonate (Mj) at 10, 20, and 50 ppm, on their growth and yield were investigated. In addition, impacts on quality and storability of the fruits were also studied. In general, application of Mt was mostly more effective than that of Mj, even at 50 ppm, with regard to all evaluated parameters. However, the dual treatment at 50 ppm recorded the highest relative chlorophyll and nutrient content in date palm leaves, as well as the yield and its components. Regarding the date palm fruits stored at 4 °C for 28 days, this dual treatment recorded the lowest weight loss and fruit decay values (0.14 and 2%, respectively), the highest firmness (6 g·cm⁻²), total soluble solids content (36 °Brix), total sugar content (32.5 g/100 g fresh weight), and the lowest total acidity (0.16 g citric acid/100 mL juice). Moreover, the highest total phenolic content and activity of peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase enzymes in the stored fruits were also recorded for the dual treatment. In contrast to the untreated fruits, scanning electron microscopy observations showed that the sprayed fruits had a very good microstructure, showing intact and thick exocarp tissue with a dense layer of epicuticular wax. The mesocarp tissue showed a normal and clear cellular framework with well organized and arranged cells, after 28 days storage at 4 °C. Based on these results, we can conclude that application of the dual treatment (Mt + Mj) at 50 ppm is a promising way to prolong the storability of date palm fruits and maintain their quality during storage periods.

Attempts to Improve the Growth and Fruiting of Barhi Date-palms under Salinity Stress

Enhancing Florida Prince peach cultivars' quality, yield, and fruiting in the face of water scarcity was the aim of this study, which was carried out in 2021 at a private orchard in the Wadi Al Natrun district of the Behera Governorate, Egypt. The effects of magnetic fields (MF) on peach production, the quality of irrigation groundwater, and the properties of irrigated sandy soil in arid environments were also investigated. The study found no discernible differences in the water compatibility standards for irrigation between magnetized water (MW) treated with an MF and non-magnetized water. However, using MW for irrigation greatly improved the productivity and efficiency of using fertilizer and water. When compared to irrigation with non-magnetized water (NMW), this resulted in a significant improvement in peach crop output. The results of the study showed that the amount of soil moisture in the root zone of crops increased significantly when MW irrigation was applied. More precisely within the first 200 m of irrigation from the (MF) device, the moisture content rose from 9.61% in the control treatment to 14.24%. When irrigation was extended from 200 to 400 and 600 m, the amount of moisture in the root zone drastically decreased. This illustrates that the effect of magnetizing irrigation water decreases with increasing distance between the irrigation region and the magnetic device at the field's beginning. Moreover, the results showed that the application of (MW) for irrigation resulted in improvements to the soil chemical properties. Consequently, this resulted in increased accessibility to water and improved uptake of fertilizers, ultimately leading to enhanced growth and production of peach trees as compared to irrigation with NMW. However, additional research is necessary to comprehend the elusive mechanism of the (MF) and transform it into a viable technique for sustainable agriculture.

Soil and irrigation water salinity are among the main problems hindering agricultural development, especially in arid and semi-arid regions, which depends on especially surface irrigation as the main means in agriculture. The salinity lead to low growth and production of plants, including fruit, as a result of the temporal, azalotic, or nutrients imbalance. Salinity of the soil or irrigation water greatly reduces the growth, productivity and quality of fruit crops by affecting their physiological, chemical and biological functions as they cause obstruction to the absorption of some elements by the plant and if it increased absorption of salts, it causes ion poisoning of the cell, as well as increased salts cause less absorption of water by the plant due to the high osmosis of soil water. There are many ways to reduce the salt stress in the growth of fruit plants, the most important of which is adding organic fertilizers such as humic acid or spraying with the amino acid proline.

Effect of Potassium Fertilizers Sources on the Production, Quality and Chemical Composition of Early Sweet Grapes Cv. Under Salinity Stress

Nano-Materials Effect on Improving the Productivity of Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) Wonderful Cultivar Under Saline Stress