Table · dataset · 2026
Supplementary file 1_Climate variability governs mulch performance and stability in date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) in arid oases.docx
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Introduction<p>Plastic mulch recommendations for date palm cropping systems in arid oases rest on demonstration trials conducted in favorable seasons.
Description
Yet the yield value of mulch-induced phenological advancement may depend on whether the season’s thermal regime places reproductive development within the effective pollination window, a contingency single-season trials cannot expose.</p>Methods<p>We tested this hypothesis across three seasons (2023 baseline, 2024, 2025) using four mulching treatments: no mulch (NM), shredded date palm fronds (SDPF), polyethylene film over SDPF (PP+SDPF), and polypropylene woven ground cover over SDPF (PWGC+SDPF), on 64 mature Phoenix dactylifera L. cv.
Najda trees at Errachidia, Morocco. Canopy development, spathe production, and marketable yield were recorded on individually tagged trees, and inter-seasonal stability was assessed using the Alternate Bearing Index and a Risk Index.</p>Results<p>PP+SDPF maintained the largest canopy in both 2024 and 2025, whereas treatment effects on spathe production and yield differed between seasons. In 2024, PP+SDPF recorded a marketable yield of 29.92 ± 3.56 kg tree<sup>−1</sup>, 4.2× the unmulched control; in 2025, it fell to the lowest marketable yield recorded (11.84 ± 2.22 kg tree<sup>−1</sup>), 7.93 kg tree<sup>−1</sup> below the unmulched control (treatment × season interaction: p < 0.001).
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The association between frond number and spathe count was significant in 2024 (r<sub>s</sub> = +0.455, p < 0.001) but not in 2025 (r<sub>s</sub> = +0.206, p = 0.122), indicating that relationships among canopy development, spathe production, and yield differed between seasons. Across three seasons, PWGC+SDPF achieved the lowest Alternate Bearing Index (0.419 ± 0.065) and Risk Index (8.3%).</p>Discussion<p>These results are consistent with the phenological-window hypothesis and indicate that mulch permeability was associated with lower inter-seasonal yield volatility under the conditions of this trial.
They suggest a possible trade-off between productivity and stability: PWGC+SDPF was associated with lower observed inter-seasonal variability, whereas PP+SDPF achieved a higher three-season mean yield but greater variability. As the trial was conducted at a single site with a single cultivar over three seasons, these relationships require verification across other locations, cultivars, and climates before broader recommendation.</p>
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Where it is published
- DOI doi.org/10.3389/fagro.2026.1947864.s001 ↗
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- OAI-PMH record api.figshare.com/v2/oai?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=oai_dc&identifier=oai%3Af… ↗
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Provenance · 1 source records, 17 field assertions
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