Date Palm

We have previously shown that two circular plasmid-like DNAs (the S and the R plasmids) can be found in the mitochondria of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), a dioecious monocotyledonous tree. The two plasmids differ essentially by the absence, in the R plasmid, of a 109-bp DNA segment. Using 36 date palm varieties and employing a PCR-based approach, we show that the simultaneous presence of the R plasmid and absence of the S plasmid can be considered as a reliable molecular marker of resistance to a vascular wilt (Bayoud disease) caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. albedinis. Conversely, the simultaneous presence of the S plasmid and absence of the R plasmid is correlated to Bayoud disease susceptibility The availibility of this diagnostic tool for plasmid characterization should subsequently allow simple, rapid and efficient selection of Bayoud-resistant individuals from the large number of date palms obtained by natural crosses which display good date quality.

Date palm is a dioecious, perennial monocot plant species of the Arecaceae family cultivated in 56 countries including European and American countries. The success of date palm micropropagation is strongly linked to the in vitro root quality. The identical shoots of 8-10 cm long of three different varieties (vars.) were cultured in rooting experiment to study the combined impact of genotype, sucrose concentration, activated charcoal (AC), basal salts (MS or MS & B5) and subculture number. The adventitious roots were planned to be initiated on media included different combinations of sucrose and basal salts for a couple of subcultures (each a month) and after then were transferred onto media contained 1.5 and 3.0 g/l AC for additional two subcultures. Findings indicated that using 40 g/l sucrose in the rooting medium encouraged the adventitious roots production where 5 roots per plantlet of 7.8 cm long and 1.4 mm width were averagely induced. The average leaves number reached 3-4 lea...

The adsorption of lead onto date palm fibers (palm fibers) and leaf base of palm (petiole) has been examined in aqueous solution by considering the influence of various parameters such as contact time, solution pH, adsorbent dosage, particle sizes, ionic strength, and temperature. The adsorption of Pb(II) increased with an increase of contact time. The optimal range of pH for Pb(II) adsorption is 3.0–4.5. The linear Langmuir and Freundlich models were applied to describe the equilibrium isotherms, and both models fitted well. The monolayer adsorption capacity of Pb(II) on palm fibers and petiole was found as 18.622 and 20.040 mg/g, respectively, at pH 4.5 and 25°C. Dubinin-Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm model was also applied to equilibrium data. The mean free energy of adsorption (2.397 and 4.082 kJ/mol) onto palm fibers and petiole, respectively, may be carried out via physisorption mechanism. Pseudo-first-order rate equation and pseudo-second-order rate equation were applied to study the adsorption kinetics. In comparison to first-order kinetic model, pseudo-second-order model described well the adsorption kinetics of Pb(II) onto palm fibers and petiole from aqueous solution. From the results of the thermodynamic analysis, Gibbs free energy ΔG, enthalpy change ΔH, and entropy ΔS were determined. The positive value of ΔH suggests that interaction of Pb(II) adsorbed by palm fibers is endothermic. In contrast, the negative value of ΔH indicates that interaction of Pb(II) ions by petiole is exothermic. The negative value of ΔG indicates that the adsorption of Pb(II) ions on both palm fibers and petiole is a spontaneous process.

Dwarf fan palm (Chamaerops humilis L.) is an important Mediterranean species well known for many uses such as gardening, environmental restoration, and technological uses. Dwarf fan palm is usually propagated from seed, which takes up to 100 days to germinate. The germination pattern of dwarf palm seeds was studied during a 100-days length period in relation to different pre-sowing treatments (hot water, sulphuric acid, or mechanical scarification) in comparison to untreated control. A covariance analysis was performed to test the effect of time within seed-treatment treatment. All germination patterns were significantly fitted by a S-shaped (sigmoidal) distribution function with the general equation y=β+α/(1+exp(-(x-μ)/s)). Treatment with sulphuric acid significantly increased the final germination in comparison to untreated control. No differences were observed in % germination among the other seed treatments. Seed treatments increased by three- to seven-fold the maximum germination rate and reduced by 26% the mean germination time in comparison to untreated control. The reduction in mean germination time, and the increase in percentage germination and germination rate may have economical implication in the production of dwarf palm and its involvement in environmental restoration strategies, with no need to use dangerous or expensive acid pre-treatment in order to increase the propagation success.

A new bacterial disease of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) "Bacterial Pink Rot of Inflorescence" was found in a farmer's palm plantation in Kuwait. The symptoms of this disease were dark brown spots on the spathe cover. Inside these spadices affected flowers, ...

RAPD (Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA) and ISSR (Inter-Simple Sequence Repeats) markers assay were employed to validate the genetic stability of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) plants multiplied through somatic embryogenesis with upto forty two in vitro subcultures. Out of the 160 RAPD and 21 ISSR primers screened, 30 RAPD and 12 ISSR primers produced a total of 347 (246 RAPDs + 101 ISSRs) clear, distinct and reproducible amplicons, which were monomorphic across all micropropagated plants (27) studied. Thus, a total 8592 bands (number of plants analysed x number of amplicons with all the primers) were generated which exhibited homogeneous banding patterns with both RAPD and ISSR markers. These results indicate that the micropropagation protocol developed by us for rapid in vitro multiplication is appropriate and suitable for clonal propagation of date palm and corroborated the fact that somatic embryogenesis can also be used as one of the safest modes for production of true-to-type plants.

Shareef, H.J., Al-Tememi, I.H., Abdi, G., 2021. Foliar nutrition of date palm: advances and applications. A review. Folia Oecologica, 48 (1): 82-99. Foliar fertilization is one of the crucial ways for continued cultivation of date palm, obtaining the best results of growth and production, in addition to the possibility to reduce damage from abiotic stress. Although subjected date palm to an annual fertilization program, it faces some challenges, including low soil availability for nutrients, dryness of the soil surface, low root activity in the breeding period, soil alkalinity, as well as water scarcity in areas of cultivation, and symptoms of deficiency of some elements. This review attempts to shed light on the importance of using leaf fertilization, demonstrating the successful technique and positive results, and proving the ability of date palm cells to absorb nutrients, similar to other trees, and interact with chemical and biological fertilizers. Besides, the leaflet's possibility of absorbing various nutrients, chelated iron, biostimulants, antioxidants, and nano-fertilization, are presented.

This paper highlights the most important care priorities of Date Palm (DP) tree as one of important loops that aimed enhancing the quality of the performance and develop maintenance operations for greening projects in Abu Dhabi (AD), in line with the social responsibility of the municipality and embodies its vision to ensure the better quality of life and sustainable environment for AD residents. At the beginning, it reminds the importance of this blessed tree, which mentioned in the Holy Koran and the Sunnah. It touches the latest monitoring of DP varieties in UAE, and their groups according to the date maturity, explains and deals with clarifying local scheduling operations for DP care. The paper shows the importance of periodic emphasis on correct applications care according to their scheduled time that leads to stronger growth and better production which are the important components of mechanical and biological control against various pathogens or insects that can affect the DP tree at all stages , the paper presents the most mistaken practices in the performance of DP care and utilize them positively on behalf of the development of DP care. At the end, the paper shows most of the DP services throughout the year in calendar table. To replace the notion "that there is a pesticide for each disease or insect by concept “that each disease has its causes that must be limited”, therefore the calendar warns about the importance of periodic emphasis on correct applications care according to their scheduled time. As a conclusion, it can be adopted as a guide for developing the DP care practices in Abu Dhabi Emirate.

Keywords: local scheduling operations, Rachis Base , Bunch Curving , pollination , fruits thinning technique, , fruit bunching. DP Sanitary Care.

デーツ（英：date）とはナツメヤシの果実であり、一般的にアラビア語でタマル（tamr）と呼ばれる。デーツは古来よりアラブ地域で貴重な食糧源および栄養食として親しまれてきた。クルアーン第16章「蜜蜂」章では、ナツメヤシは葡萄と並んで人間に栄養を与える神の恩寵として挙げられる。第19章「マルヤム（聖母マリア）」章でも、突然の陣痛に襲われたマリアはあまりの苦しさに、ナツメヤシの幹に寄りかかると、胎内のイエスが「このナツメヤシの木を揺らして、新鮮な実を落としなさい」とデーツを薦めたとある。
　こうしたクルアーンにおけるデーツについての記述は、アラブ地域のような厳しい自然環境においては、主食となりうる農産物といえば何よりもデーツであったことを示している。デーツをほぼ唯一の農産物とした状況は、現代においても続いている。たとえば、国連食糧農業機関（FAO）の統計によると、UAEの2014年の農業物の総生産額は4.9億ドルであったが、このうちナツメヤシは1.3億ドルで総生産額の26.5％を占め、UAEにとって主要農産物になっている。ちなみに、UAE国内で大量に消費される鶏肉は5879万ドル（同比率12％）、ラクダ肉も5720万ドル（11.6%）に過ぎない。

This study aimed to evaluate different diets effects on the biological parameters of plodia interpunctella (Hubner). Three hosts namely; date, almond and peanut. Results showed that the hatchability percentage, weight per larva, pupation percentage and adult emergence percentage were the highest on almonds diet. Incubation period, generation time and life cycle were shortest in almonds. Also data indicated that almonds were the most preferred host. The efficacy of three microwave powers was investigated against two plodia interpunctella stages. The result cleared that the increase in microwave power and exposure times caused an increase in eggs and larvae reduction rate % and accordingly the microwave power more effective in larvae than egg stage. Also, results showed that there is no harmful effect on the chemical fruits characteristics under microwave treatment.

In the current epochs, health conscious consumers are interested in incorporating functional foods and beverages in their routine diet. Plants based functional foods and beverages ensure the provision of an array of nutraceutics for healthy survival and disease prevention. The inedible parts of fruits and vegetables are often discarded as waste. However, these agro-waste materials possess significant health enhancing constituents including phenolic acids, flavonoids and antioxidants. Present review is an attempt to explore the nutritional and phytochemical profile of date seeds (agro-waste), its utilization in food by-product development, role in fighting various kinds of diet and metabolic related diseases and promote human health.

Date palms are grown in most of the governorates of Egypt. God has blessed Egypt with different climatic conditions, and this is
reflected in the different cultivars dates. Date palms are grown all over Egypt from the Mediterranean coast in the north, to the border
with Sudan in the south; and from the Red Sea coast in the east, to Libya in the west. The diversity in climatic conditions in Egypt, led
to having varied cultivars of dates in the different governorates of Egypt such as Dry, Semi-dry, Soft dates.
Therefore, it was necessary to produce an Atlas of Egyptian date palms, and this was accomplished via the cooperation between
the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through
its various projects one of which is the project on Date Palm Value Chain Development which is considered one of the outputs of the
National Plan for developing the Egyptian date sector as a first attempt to have Egypt get the ranking it deserves in the global market
being the first country in terms of production - 1.7 million tons from 15 million palm trees.
The Atlas of date palm in Egypt is an important and vital attempt for the date palm sector in the Arab Republic of Egypt to guide the
researcher, farmer, investor and manufacturer in the Egyptian dates sector about the most important types that has an added value in
terms of its use either in research programs or in the cultivation of export varieties, which enables the investor and the manufacturer to
invent new and varied products that cater to all tastes and age groups.
This Atlas also serves as an awareness tool to raise the Egyptian public’s interest in date palms and its various types, especially that
Egyptians are known for their passion for palms and its products especially dates. The Egyptian Government under the leadership of
His Excellency the President pays great attention to the date palm sector by planting 5 million palm trees in Toshka and the New Valley
governorate, which will result in gigantic changes in the global market over the next few years.

The present work was aimed to study the effect of various grinding agents and detergents on the amount and purity of
the extracted DNA from diverse plant samples. Agents supporting grinding process were liquid nitrogen, acid washed
sand and glass beads, along with a number of concentrations of two detergents i.e. SDS (Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate)
and CTAB (Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide). Six plants species Croton (Codiaeum variegatum), Tomato
(Lycopersicon esculentum), Orchid (Orchis militaris), Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.), Pineapple (Ananas
cosmosus) and Aloe (Aloe vera); were selected for DNA isolation and these plant species differ in their leaf texture as
well as polysaccharides and phenolics content. The results obtained showed the presence of linear relationship between
detergent and yield of the DNA with a little influence on the purity. The type of grinding agent did not significantly
affect the purity of the extracted DNA but the amount of extracted DNA is greatly influenced. The purest DNA samples
of all six plants species were selected and subjected to PCR amplification.

AbstrAct Solar dehydration is an old process for food preservation. Purpose to dehydrate the full matured date fruit is to reduce the water content into 25% or less of the fresh weight to preserve the fruit quality after harvesting or during storage. Date fruit contains up to 65% moisture at Khalal stage and decreases into 30-40% by ripening stage (Rutab stage) and less than 20% in the dry varieties by the time of Tamer stage while fruit remains on the tree. Problem appears when the fruit have to be harvested unripe due to inadequate ambient conditions. It could be monsoon rains coincidence during ripening like in Jordan, Palestine, Morocco, Tunisia, USA and Pakistan. Consequently the unripe fruit cured under sun radiation for approximately 6 days exposed to dirt, pest attack or/and sudden rain fall. Otherwise alternative methods including the solar dryers used. There have different types of solar tunnels been using in different countries but the capacity was limited of 200-400 Kg of unripe fruit approx. per cycle, cost at high level and more effort required. Recently a design of solar tunnel

Partial desiccation treatment was applied to improve plant regeneration of in vitro callus and embryo cultures of date palm cvs. Barhee and Malkaby. Desiccation was achieved by transferring un-differentiated callus and un-germinated embryos to Petri dishes with double layer of filter paper and then holding in the air current of Laminar flow cabinet for 0.0, 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 hours. After that, they were transferred to MS medium supplemented with 0.1mg/l NAA+ 0.05mg/l BA. Partial desiccation (3 and 4 hours) of callus cultures reduced fresh weight due to reduction of water content and stimulated callus growth, globularization and embryo formation of the two cultivars under investigation. The highest germination percentage was achieved when embryos were desiccated for three hours (83.33 and 60% for Malkaby and Barhee, respectively). Desiccation treatment reduced hyperhydricity. The study suggests that partial desiccation treatment can be useful in stimulating maturation and germination of date palm somatic embryos.

Rich ethnobiological study of antiquity is usually constrained by the limitations of the archaeological remains of plants and animals. Sometimes, ongoing tradition, images and texts add a symbolic dimension. Such a study has been done of  the Warka Vase, an iconic artifact of Mesopotamia. The lowest of three registers appears to represent the basis of Mesopotamian life: water, plants, and animals. Identification of the water and animals is relatively straightforward. In the absence of serious botanical study, the plants depicted are usually thought to be grain and flax. Analysis of the plant imagery in concert with that of archaic signs, botanical charactistics, and our understanding of Mesopotamian agriculture and tradition shows that the 'grain' is date palm and confirms the other plant as flax. Analysis based on these plant identifications demonstrates the composition of the imagery on the Vase has a gendered and political narrative structure.

NOTE: Scholarly paper on this topic is now available online:
Miller, Naomi F., Philip H. Jones, and Holly Pittman. 2015. Sign and image: representations of plants on the Warka Vase of early Mesopotamia. University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons, Philadelphia. http://repository.upenn.edu/penn_museum_papers/2

Production and evaluation of cookies from whole wheat flour and date palm fruit pulp as sugar substitute was studied. Whole wheat grains (WW) were cleaned and milled into flour. Date palm was cleaned, deseeded, dried and milled into flour. Composite flour of whole wheat and date palm meal were formulated in the following ratios: 90:10, 80:20, 70:30, 60:40, 50:50, which were used to produce cookies using refined wheat flour as control (W), Functional properties and proximate analysis were carried out on the flour samples. Proximate analysis, physical properties, microbial analysis and sensory evaluation of cookies were carried out. Data obtained were statistically analyzed by ANOVA and mean separation by Fishers LSD. The use of date palm fruit pulp as sugar substitute in cookie production improved the properties of the flours such as swelling index, oil absorption capacity, pH and viscosity as they were comparable to the control (refined wheat flour-W-). There were no significant difference in emulsion capacity, gelatinous temperature and bulk density of all the flour samples. The proximate composition of the samples generally increased with increase in incorporation of date palm pulp with the exception of carbohydrate and protein. The proximate composition of cookies increased with increase in percentage palm pulp in the cookies and the samples were comparable to the control (W) except in protein content where the control was very high. The physical properties of cookies produced from composites were comparable to the control with the exception of break strength which decreased with increase in date palm pulp incorporation. The organoleptic characteristics of WWDP 3 (whole wheat – date palm in the ratio of 70:30) was rated overall best in all the parameters tested. The incorporation of date palm pulp in cookies should not be less than 30%. Cookies samples stored for six (6) weeks had microbial loads less than the maximum count recommended in literature.

This study was conducted to estimate fingerprint and genetic relationship among 9 Iraqi varieties of date palm Phoenix
dactylifera L. namely Asabee Aroose, Zahdi, Sukari, Saada, Ashrasy, Barben, Shetwi, Khistawi and Nhair Al Saly. 20 primers were used to detect DNA markers using Random
Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) technique. Analysis showed that many primers gave unique band in all samples made possible fingerprint identification of each cultivar, Ashrasy variety gave highest 6 unique polymorphic bands with primers OPA – 08, OPC – 04, OPF – 05 and OPF – 12, while Zahdy variety gave 1 unique polymorphic band (385 pb) with primer OPB – 05 .

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is the third most important fruit crop after citrus and mango in Pakistan. This crop is found in all four provinces of Pakistan on 90,000 ha with a production of around 600,000 mt yr-1. Pakistan’s position is always among the seven largest producers and exporters of dates in the world. Sindh and Balochistan provinces contribute more than 90 % of production and crop area in Pakistan. Date palm has a very strong effect on socioeconomic activities of the area. The top Pakistani cultivars are Aseel, Dhakki, Begum Jangi, Rabai and Muzawati. Pakistani date fruit is being exported as fresh, dry or chohara. This book is published by USAID Pakistan to be used as a manual for date palm growers all over Pakistan describing date palm cultivation in Pakistan, major flood-affected date palms and fruit, protection from monsoon rains, the first commercial trial for date palm micropropagation using inflorescence explants at the Date Palm Research Institute (DPRI) at Khairpur, and major date palm problems generally in Pakistan, including diseases and pests, with emphasis on the Khairpur and Balochistan provinces, and date fruit processing

Date Palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is a salt and drought tolerant fruit crop mainly cultivated in Arabian countries. Shoot
tip explants of offshoots were used traditionally for various micropropagation protocols on research or commercial levels.
However, its main disadvantage was the scarification of the entire plant. Subsequently, this hinders the micropropagation
of male and female recalcitrant individuals with no offshoots or the interesting cultivars with a limited population.
Consequently, current study is investigating the factors affecting commercial production of tissue cultured palms with
cost-effectively and short-production cycle, which may also strongly enhance the transformation protocols. The innovative
way by which the 15 cm long immature inflorescence was excised before emergence between fronds is reported herewith
this study for the first time. Established spikelet explants were able within 2-3 months only without any callus phase
to produce shining globular structures instead of immature florets. These embryogenic structures couldn’t develop
further without maturation process for 1-2 months under full darkness as well. Subsequently, well-matured embryogenic
structures were shifted to the subsequent differentiation medium under illumination conditions. After then, green shoots
and multiple somatic embryos have been subjected to the multiplication stage, then rooting and eventually successfully
transplanted in the greenhouse. All used nutrient media and their sequential usage is reported in this study by which
it became possible from one inflorescence to produce 10000 plantlets in rooting stage right now of Gulistan Pakistani
cultivar without any bad consequences on the mother tree.

AbstrAct Date palm is the most important fruit tree in Iraq. DNA markers are a powerful tool to provide information on the relatedness of various clones or varieties that are difficult to distinguish morphologically. Five Iraqi date palm cultivars (Maktoum, Khidrawi Mandli, Osta Emran, Teberzal and Breem) were assessed using 23 RAPD markers. The results revealed that % of polymorphism ranged from 0 (primer OPC4,OPC14 and OPR7) to 85.7% (primer OPA5). One unique single band was shown in Breem variety obtained from primer OPE13, OPH7 and OPS12 in 800, 320 and 750 bp respectively, in Khidrawi Mandli variety from primer OPA8 and OPA11 at 320 and 500 respectively, in Teberzal variety from primer OPA17and OPH9 at 250 and 1100 bp respectively and in Osta Emran variety from primer OPA20 at 250 and 550bp, from primer OPC15 at 320 bp from primer OPF2 at 700 bp and from primer OPF8 at 400 and 580bp. Our results provide evidence of ability of RAPD markers to detect a genetic diversity among the tested date cultivars and this methodology can be extended to other cultivars.

Este livro é fruto de  uma  imensa  pesquisa  e  garimpagem  de  artigos,  livros  e  manuais  na internet sobre o assunto, com intuito de divulgar essa que para mim foi uma das maiores invenções da humanidade o “handhelds”,  pois  quem  não  conhece  não  imagina  o  que  pode  fazer com ele e após conhecer-lo não consegue  viver  sem.  Este  livros  tem  por  finalidade  dar uma visão geral sobre a programação em palmtop com conceitos e comparações com outras ferramentas e outros computadores de mão,  e  também  o  seu  sistema  operacional palmOS, quais as vantagens e desvantagens e todo o conjunto que é sem sobra de dúvida mais um instrumento indispensável em nossas vidas e  sobre  a  linguagem  Basic  que  é  utilizada  no NSBasic que é a ferramenta mais simples porem sem deixa  a deseja  nos  recursos  e com  um preço acessível, talvez a ferramenta vendida para programar em palmtop mais barata do mercado.

Aššurnaṣirpal II (r. 883-859 b.c.e.) moved his capital from Aššur to the old, long-deserted city of Kalḫu, which he proceeded to rebuild. His new official residence, the Northwest Palace, he described as his "palace for eternity." The rooms of the palace had carved stone relief slabs, previously unknown in Assyria. Ten of the, known, rooms had depictions of stylized trees, as well as other figures. This chapter identifies the stylized trees as female date palms and their offshoots-clones of the original tree-together offering a stylized view of a date palm plantation. By exploring the scientific and linguistic data of date palms and the artistic and historical aspects of the reliefs, it appears that Aššurnaṣirpal used this stylized depiction of a date palm plantation as his stemma, an analogy of his unchanging hereditary right to rule.

Inflorescence-based micropropagation holds great potential for the multiplication of recalcitrant male and female date palm individual trees and culti-vars of commercial interests with limited populations. This can be accomplished in a short time with minimal effort as compared to the traditional practice of using shoot-tip explants. The aim of this technique is to pave the way to use inflorescence explants to micropropagate date palm by direct formation of organs (somatic embryos or shoots) and avoiding most of the constraints that face the shoot tip like high percentage of contamination in the establishment stage, heavy browning, a long time for first cluster initiation, using a considerable number of offshoots and inability to micropropagate the elite palms in case no offshoots are available. The way to excise the immature inflorescence without damage to the mother tree, composition of the nutrient medium for direct organ initiation have remained hindrances to this technique over recent decades, in addition to the technicalities for proper handling of cultures inside the laboratory and successful shifting of plants to the greenhouse. We report for the first time an innovative method used to excise the immature inflo-rescence at a suitable stage for successful culture initiation. Spikelet explants are induced to produce shining globular structures without a callus phase. Also, explants were exceptionally able to develop direct shoots. Two types of organs developed on the differentiation medium, green shoots and intact somatic embryos. Only green shoots and multiple somatic embryos were subjected to proliferation at the multiplication stage. Well-rooted plantlets were hardened and successfully established in soil.

This paper aimed at measuring the Technical Efficiency (TE) of small-scale date farms in Baharia oasis using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method, in addition to highlighting the most important pre and post-harvest practices, in small-scale date farms that affecting productivity in order to draw polices to improve the production and productivity of Egyptian dates. The study utilized the (DEA) approach which is based on the linear programming to create an envelope or a field containing the data. A questionnaire was designed to obtain primary data on the input (Production amounts in tons) and outputs (Total labor and number of palm trees) from 37 small date farms in the city of Baharia oasis affiliated Giza Governorate, namely the villages of Al-Bawity, Mandisha and Al-Zubo respectively. The study reached some major findings which are: The average TE of Baharia oasis small date farms in the case of Constant Rate of Scale (CRS) was estimated at 0.172 only, this means that those farms can increase their production of dates by 82.8% without any Increase in quantity or amount of their economic resources used. On the other hand, the TE of small date farms in Baharia oasis was estimated at 0.642 when considering Variable Rate of Scale (VRS), which means that these farms can increase their production by 35.8% without any increase in the quantity or amount of economic resources used. The Scale Efficiency (SE) of the small date farms in the Baharia oases was estimated at only 0.279, which means that these farms need to increase their scale by 72.1% to benefit from the economics of scale. The study attributed the low TE of Baharia oasis dates to poor pre and post-harvest agricultural practices.

Suggested Citation: "Measuring Technical Efficiency of Small Date Farms in Bahaira Oasis using Data Envelopment Analysis", the annual conference of the Egyptian Association for Agricultural Economy, November 1st 2017.