Effects of Offshoot Size and IBA on Rooting of Date Palm

With the present uncertainty in the world food supply and the expected increase in demand, the date palm could be a good source of food of high nutritional value. The dioecious nature of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) together with its natural open cross-pollination necessitates vegetative propagation to maintain and perpetuate the unique parental quality attributes. However, it is very difficult to propagate date palms by conventional vegetative propagation techniques, unless offshoots of appropriate size are treated with rooting hormones.Generally, most of the parameters considered varied significantly due to differences in offshoot size and concentration of IBA, indicating an interaction between the two factors.The response of date palm offshoots to increased level of IBA continued to promote rooting significantly up to the highest level, i.e. 3000 ppm. Likewise, the response of offshoots in terms of rooting increased as the base diameter of the offshoot increased.