Date Palm: Genomic Designing for Improved Nutritional Quality

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) is one of the oldest fruit trees known where a significant amount of breeding has been carried out to improve various agronomic and nutritional characteristics. Numerous studies have been done to improve the nutritional composition and quality of the fruit due to its significant biological properties. Various strategies have been formulated for improving the agronomic characters through biofortification as well as preserving through postharvesting techniques. Modern breeding practices using molecular markers have significantly helped to identify the phenotypic, as well as genotypic, diversity for the selection of superior date palm cultivars, advanced agronomic characters like nutritional quality, disease resistance, and yield. Availability of the whole genome sequence, organellar sequence, and genetic map of date palm has helped breeders in modification and improvement of the characteristics. With the availability of bioinformatic tools and gene editing knowledge, the nutritional composition of date palm can be effectively manipulated to develop better crops along with good agronomic characters and resistance to diseases. The authors have compiled the nutritional composition of date palm fruits and detail the strategies to edit the genome and improve nutritional quality.