Although dates palms can withstand long
periods of drought under high temperatures,
large amounts of water are required for
vigorous growth, high yield, and high-quality
fruit. Under typical production conditions in
California, annual water consumption was
1.3 m (Furr and Armstrong, 1956). The
majority of this was from the upper 2 m of the
soil, which coincided with the distribution of
the roots. It should be noted that this study
was conducted with ‘Khadrawy’, a smallstature
cultivar that most probably would
have lower water consumption than larger
size cultivars. Under similar conditions,
application of excess water did not increase
the rate of growth of date palms or fruit yield;
however, withholding water during the summer
months decreased the rate of tree growth
and decreased the moisture content of the
fruit (Reuther and Crawford, 1945). Flood
irrigation is the oldest form of irrigation and
is still used in many areas. Sprinkler, micro
sprinkler, and drip irrigation are often used in
newer plantations (Abdul-Baki et al., 2002).