DESIGN FACTORS FOR PALM-TREE POLLINATOR

The aims of this study are to design, construct, and evaluate a simple pollination-device for date palm trees. The designed pollination device consists of fan fixed on small electrical motor of 12 volt, operated by a dry battery, pollination conical-hopper, a vibrated plastic roller (feeder) that moves by second small motor of 12 volt and conical tubes
The best conditions which gave the suitable performance were: carried material of "flour + fine bran" with ratio of 1 : 1, air speed of 1.8 m/s, and quantity of mixture inside the hopper 50 - 100 g (all sizes).  It gave a maximum throw of 10 cm, lateral spread of 40 cm and mixture discharge of 0.3 - 0.33 g/s.
It was found that the highest fruit set of 64.2 and 69.4 % were obtained by using designed pollination-device one and three times respectively. Whereas, the fruit set was about 51.2 % by using manual pollination method.