ABSTRACT
Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the oldest plantation crops, mainly cultivated for its sweet and nutritious fruits. It is tolerant to high temperature and drought. It is one of the most economically important perennial plants in arid regions of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Sahara. Date palm is thought to have originated either in the Persian Gulf or in western India and domesticated more than 5000 years ago. Present-day date palms are a result of centuries of successful selection. Date palm production declined in recent years, due to irrigation using scarce water resources, soil and water salinity, pests and diseases, increased production costs as well as limited market outlets (Al-Yahyai, 2007). The improvement of the existing cultivars for superior characters is not an easy task due to its long life cycle, highly heterozygous nature, and difŸculty to determine the sex before ¨owering (5-7 years). Date palm produces a limited number of offshoots that are traditionally used for propagation, while the seed-derived plants are undesirable, because they show high variability; because of this, in vitro propagation is the best option and an effective means to ensure the renewal and extension of date palm plantations (Smith and Aynsley, 1995).
