Date Palm Status and Perspective in Libya

Libyan date palm germplasm represents a heritage of great value both for agriculture and the environment. This chapter analyzes all the aspects of the date palm status in Libya starting from the historical aspect to the current status as well as the results of the recent International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants cooperative program between Italy and Libya for improving and promoting date palm production in Libya, which at present is quite low. All the production is consumed locally, and the cultivation techniques and the processing industry are outdated and need to be modernized. The program strategy was driven by two main objectives: first, identification of high-quality dates through production protocols that ensure the consistency and quality of the final product; second, protection of the agrobiodiversity by promoting local date palm cultivars and strengthening traditional oasis management systems. For this purpose 18 Libyan cultivars, representing common genotypes in the central Libyan oasis of Al Jufrah, were studied in detail both from a morphological and genetic point of view. Cultivar descriptions were carried out on the basis of passport descriptors according to international standards to facilitate germplasm passport information exchange together with genetic fingerprinting. This was performed using 16 highly polymorphic simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci, which allowed setting up an efficient and unambiguous identification system. Clonal fingerprinting and cultivar identification are important elements for promoting typical local products and for linking a product to its place of origin. In this context, the Libyan germplasm represents an enormous richness that deserves to be exploited. Its characterization and valorization open new prospects for date palm breeding.