Comparison of organic and chemical fertilizers on Piarom date palm offshoots vegetative growth

Date palm tree reaction to fertilizer is very slow, due to the trunk nutrients. This fact leads to farmer unwillingness to feed the trees. However, balance fertilizing improves vegetative growth and reduce the period for flowering. This study aimed to assess the effects of manure, chemical and organic sulfur on vegetative characteristics of ‘Piarom’ date palm offshoot in a randomized complete block design with nine treatments and three replications for two years. Treatments consisted of control (no fertilizer), cattle manure at 20 and 30 kgtree, mixed NPK fertilizers at three levels: 150, 150 150, 200 200 250 and 300 250, 250g of nitrogen (ammonium sulfate), phosphate (triple superphosphate), potassium (potassium chloride), and organic sulfur source at three levels, 500, 750, and 1000g per offshoots per year. Analysis of variance showed a significant positive effect (1%) of organic sulfur on increasing vegetative growth. The highest increment in diameter, tree height and trunk, (7.16, 3.23 and 7/61 cm) increment in the number of leaves (7.11), increase in leaf width and length (15.7 and 36.0 cm) were obtained with the highest level of organic sulfur consumption. There was no significant differences among organic sulfur levels. Therefore, using 500g organic sulfur accompanied with 20 kg of manure in the planting bed is recommended to improve growth of rate date palm offshoots.