Media of the College of Agriculture 
A research team consisting of Professor Dr. Aqeel Hadi Abdel Wahed and Dr. Ahmed Youssef Lafta in the Department of Horticulture and Landscape design at the College of Agriculture, the University of Basrah successes to register six genes in the Genetic Data Bank (NCBI), it which had a close relationship in sex determination DNA region in the date palm, by relying on Techniques of SNP markers, it considered as a modern and promising indicators in finding genetic differences at the level of nucleotide, this technique is tested a first time in Iraq.
It is reported that these genes play a major role in sex differentiation in date palms. In the past and in this day it is consider a challenge for researchers, since the process of determining the sex before the fruiting stage in date palms is difficult and impossible even for some specialists and experienced in date palm cultivation.