Growth and Compositional Changes During the Various Developmental Stages of Some Saudi Arabian Date Cultivars

Compositional changes during fruit maturation were studied in two important date cultivars grown in Saudi Arabia. Physical analyses showed that the fruit weight, length, diameter and weight of seed were highest at the mature color stage. Chemical analyses including moisture, total nitrogen, fat, fiber, ash, tannins, vitamin C, β‐carotene, and 10 nutritionally essential minerals showed that all were highest at the early stages of development and decreased during maturation. Reducing sugars were dominant in both cultivars and showed progressive increase during ripening with fructose and glucose as the only detected constituents. Sucrose content reached its maximum in both cultivars at the mature color stage then dropped sharply at the ripe stage. The total sugar content in both cultivars tended to increase all throughout maturation.