Date palm status and perspective in syria

Abstract

Date palm is one of the holy trees in Syria due to its cultural significance, in addition to its economic and environmental benefits. It is cultivated in the arid regions of the country around Palmyra and in some eastern areas along the Euphrates Basin. The Ministry of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform designed a plan for developing the date palm tree in Syria beginning in 1986 when it defined the optimal belt for this tree according to the environmental requirements of its cultivation and production. This belt constitutes about one-third of the total area of Syria and it includes the majority of the Syrian Badia lands. Since 1986, centers for date palm propagation have been established in provinces within the belt, focusing on elite lines and cultivars to collect offshoots from both elite lines and native and introduced cultivars to serve as mother orchards for selected genetic resources which are propagated to generate offshoots to be cultivated in suitable regions of the country. The Ministry of Agriculture also encouraged farmers to plant date palm within the specified belt to expand its cultivation area. Added to the various cultivars that are propagated within the date palm belt area, there are a set of lines of seedling origin in the Palmyra oasis and orchards that are being characterized for adoption as promising local Syrian cultivars. More research should be carried out for DNA-fingerprinting of date palm cultivars grown in Syria and their propagation by tissue culture.