## 4 Discussion
[6], who suggested that the Khlas cultivation is the most common grown cultivar with 67.15%, followed by the Ruziz cultivar (i.e., 18.87%) and the Shishi cultivar (i.e., 6.9%). [PERSON] et al. [50] also stated that the Khlas cultivar is widely planted in the Al-Ahsa oasis and ranked by many people as the best date cultivar in the world, as it is a fancy date making a delicacy as both a fresh and dry fruit that cures well and retains its flavor even in storage. The dominance of the Khlas cultivar might be explained by its economic and social values in the Al-Ahsa and the surrounding communities as indicated by other investigators [9; 11]. In fact, and according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics, the Khlas cultivar is the most planted date palm tree in the Kingdom, with 25% out of the total 31,234,155 trees [1]. In addition, the obtained results also show marked significant relationships between the distribution of cultivated land and the distribution of the total palm trees, as well as between the spatial distribution of the cultivated areas and the distribution of the number of the sole cultivar trees (Tables 2 and 4 and Figures 5-7). Moreover, the BiLISA clustering map proved that there were significant relationships between the oasis' total cultivated area and the total date palm trees (Figure 6a). The northern subregion farms showed distinct spatial correlations (Figure 6b), particularly between the high number of palm trees and the bigger cultivated areas with a high significance value (\(p\)-value 0.001). These correlationsevidently sustain the hitherto observed implications in this study that advocate the effective and substantial relationships between the cultivated areas with the planted date palm trees in the Al-Ahsa oasis, whither in total or per farm. This may plausibly assume the common planting methods of the date palm trees in the oasis. The various impacts of the variations in soil properties and irrigation water quality on the spatial distributions of the date palm plantations in the oasis can also be deduced from these relationships. Elevated soil salinity in the oasis is a prime obstacle to its sustainable farming activities [32; 48]. In addition, various studies have shown that irrigation water in the oasis is recognized by its high salinity hazards due to its excessive salinity contents [39]. This salinity of irrigation water, however, tends to increase in the direction from central to eastern subregions [39], being consistent with the spatial variations in soil salinity [19; 20]. This direction, however, is also in harmony with the observed spatial distributions of date palm plantations in the oasis. Though date palm trees are salinity tolerant [51; 52], several studies have elucidated that increased salinity levels of soils and irrigation water conceivably induce undesirable impacts on their growth traits, nutrient contents, and biomass products [51; 53]. Various studies have also revealed that date palm varieties differ in their salinity tolerance [54; 55; 56], with some asserting that the Khlas cultivar is more tolerant than others [57; 58; 59]. Thus, it is feasible to conclude from these findings that date palm plantations in the oasis demand special farming programs that consider the escalated salinity of soils and irrigation water. These programs ought to seek to improve the production of the date palm and attain the agricultural sustainability of the oasis, ultimately meeting the goals of the Saudi 2030 strategic vision (Unified National Platform, 2021). These goals involve, in part, attaining food security, preserving natural and environmental resources, sustaining the agriculture sector, and improving public income.