Root Anatomy of Date Palm: Root Anatomical Characteristics of Some Date Palm (Phoenix Dactylifera L.) Cultivars of Diverse Origin

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is economically 3rd major fruit crop after citrus and mango in Pakistan and country ranks 5th leading producer globally. Rich soil, abundant sunshine and four distinct seasons make country an ideal place for cultivating a variety of agriculture crops. The above factors help in creating a very special taste in our farm produce, particularly in fruits: mangoes, apples, and dates. Root anatomical structures of 34 date palm cultivars were measured and to investigate the significance of root structures in identification. Relative importances of anatomical characters of cultivars were emphasized and adaptive component of root in relation to habitat ecology was examined. Size of epidermis cells, size and shape of outer cortical region, presence of sclerification in outer cortex, sclerenchyma bundles in cortical region and presence of aerenchyma were quite variable in all the cultivars studied. Similarly endodermal layer thickness, thickness of outer tangential wall of endodermis, shape and size of phloem region, size and arrangement of metaxylem vessels and sclerification in the pith region showed extremely high magnitude of diversity.