No abstract

Dioecism has always been an issue in many plant species with its numerous disadvantages, especially in woody trees such as date palms. As one of the most important crops in the Middle Eastern countries, researchers are having problems identifying of sex of the plant in its early stages of development. Hence, proper population stands in the male: female ratio for maintenance is almost impossible in the field for better production. In this study, sex determination of date palm (Phoenix dactilyfera L.) were identified in regions of the Y chromosome (Date-SRY) gene, the pivotal gene that initiates sex determination, using a new technique and thus an economically desirable objective, which will significantly impact profits in seed based cultivations. Partial sequences of the Date-SRY were taken and amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). According to the results, the exact sex of date palm was identified in all the tested plants, while amplified regions of the Date-SRY gene closely matched with the human and papaya sequences. In addition, a primer pair was designed to amplify the sequences of the SRY-date gene with confidence that it will identify male date palms. These primer sequences include SRY-date Forward 5′- cggccctctaagtatctgtgcgcaacg-3′ (SRY-date F) and the SRY-date Reverse 5′- gtttgcacttcgaagcagag-3′ (SRY-date R). The complete sequence of the DNA has been registered and deposited in GenBank (BankIt1598036 DPSRY1 KC577225 thenKJ873056).

Background Salinity is a serious factor limiting the productivity of agricultural plants. One of the potential problems for plants growing under saline conditions is the inability to up take enough K+. The addition of K+ may considerably improve the salt tolerance of plants grown under salinity. It is assumed that increasing the K+ supply at the root zone can ameliorate the reduction in growth imposed by high salinity. The present study aims to determine whether an increase in the K/Na ratio in the external media would enhance the growth of date palm seedlings under in vitro saline conditions.Methods Date palm plants were grown at four concentrations of Na + K/Cl (mol/m3) with three different K/Na ratios. The 12 salt treatments were added to modified MS medium. The modified MS medium was further supplemented with sucrose at 30 g/l.ResultsGrowth decreased substantially with increasing salinity. Growth expressed as shoot and root weight, enhanced significantly with certain K/Na ratios, and higher weight was maintained in the presence of equal K and Na. It is the leaf length, leaf thickness and root thickness that had significant contribution on total dry weight. Na+ contents in leaf and root increased significantly increased with increasing salinity but substantial decreases in Na+ contents were observed in the leaf and root with certain K/Na ratios. This could be attributed to the presence of a high K+ concentration in the media. The internal Na+ concentration was higher in the roots in all treatments, which might indicate a mechanism excluding Na+ from the leaves and its retention in the roots. K/Na ratios up to one significantly increased the leaf and root K+ concentration, and it was most pronounced in leaves. The K+ contents in leaf and root was not proportional to the K+ increase in the media, showing a high affinity for K+ uptake at lower external K+ concentrations, but this mechanism continues to operate even with high external Na+ concentrations.ConclusionIncreasing K/Na ratios in the growing media of date plam significantly reduced the absorption of Na+ less than 200 mM and also balance ions compartmentalization.