khalifa, N., Eltawel, N. (2025). Sex identification of high-quality date palm (phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars from Wahat El-Baharya, Giza, Egypt.. Egyptian Journal of Botany, 65(1), 98-108. doi: 10.21608/ejbo.2024.276311.2758
Noha S. khalifa; Nada Alaa Eltawel. "Sex identification of high-quality date palm (phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars from Wahat El-Baharya, Giza, Egypt.". Egyptian Journal of Botany, 65, 1, 2025, 98-108. doi: 10.21608/ejbo.2024.276311.2758
khalifa, N., Eltawel, N. (2025). 'Sex identification of high-quality date palm (phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars from Wahat El-Baharya, Giza, Egypt.', Egyptian Journal of Botany, 65(1), pp. 98-108. doi: 10.21608/ejbo.2024.276311.2758
khalifa, N., Eltawel, N. Sex identification of high-quality date palm (phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars from Wahat El-Baharya, Giza, Egypt.. Egyptian Journal of Botany, 2025; 65(1): 98-108. doi: 10.21608/ejbo.2024.276311.2758
Sex identification of high-quality date palm (phoenix dactylifera L.) cultivars from Wahat El-Baharya, Giza, Egypt.
1Botany Dept., Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt
2Botany department, Faculty of Science, Ain Shams University,Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
Phoenix dactylifera (date palm) is an important fruit tree that flourishes in arid regions of Egypt, Middle East, and North Africa. The one million acres presidential initiative proposed the introduction of this strategic crop into many reclaimed lands in Egypt since 2019. The enigmatic divergence in gender prompted us to investigate easy and fast method to determine sex of immature tree. Three females: 1,2,3 and one male pollinator from selective export quality were collected from Wahat El-Baharya and were used in this study. These cultivars are coded as F1,F2, F3 and M, respectively to facilitate their tracking throughout this work. To determine a marker for distinguishing sex, this investigation used four specific and 27 RAPD molecular markers. Some of the markers showed inter-varietal differences while some were able to successfully differentiate between male and female trees and can be recommended to be used at the commercial level for seed propagated trees as will be further discussed.