Date Palm
Phoenix dactylifera L.
Date palm is an important fruit crop that belongs to the Arecaceae family and is currently cultivated in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Central America. Date palm tree produces dates as fruits, well-known for their sweet taste which makes them largely appreciated worldwide. Date palm tree production keeps climbing up from 8.86 million tons in 2018 with 1.17 thousand hectares of cultivated area, to 9.454 million tons in 2020 with 1.235 thousand hectares. There are almost 6000 date varieties in the world being Deglet Nour the most popular one, due to its taste and multiple health benefits. Among other most produced date varieties, there are Allig, Khouat allig, and Kenta. Date fruit is composed of a fleshy pericarp and seed. The edible part is the pericarp, whereas seeds are always either discarded, burnt, or used as animal feed.
