**3. Traditional uses**

*H. thebaica* tree is one of the most useful plants in the world [5]. Along the Nile, people used its fiber and leaflets to spin baskets. The fruits of doum palm are contained antioxidants [6]. Palms are used for firewood and charcoal. Leaves are probably the most important part of the palm, providing the raw material used in basketry, making mats, brooms, coarse textiles, ropes, thatching and string [7]. Leaves may also be used as fuel. The fibers of roots obtained after soaking in water for 2–3 days, and flogging of the roots are used for making fishing nets. Due to the high amounts of fibers in wood, it is difficult to cut them using an ax. Wood produced from the male palm is considered better than that of the female. It is often used for building, providing for support and rafters for houses, railway sleepers, planks, water ducts and wheels fence posts and raft construction. Dried bark is used to produce a black dye for leather wear [8]. Roots are used in the treatment of bilharzia, while fruit pulp is helped in the reduction control hypertension [9]. The hard seed inside the fruit, known as (vegetable ivory) is used to treat sore eyes in livestock using charcoal from the seed kernel as well as making buttons and small carvings, and artificial pearls [1]. In Turkey and Kenya, the powder made from the outer covering of the fruit is added to water and milk and left to stand to make a mild alcoholic drink; in other countries, the terminal meristem is tapped for making palm wine. The thin dried brown rind is used in the manufacture of sweetmeats, cakes, and molasses. In Egypt, the fruit is sold in herbalist shops and is popular among children. Apart from the use of the fruit as food, juice is extracted from the young fruit and palm wine is prepared from the sap [10]. Doum palm fruit in its powder form was applied in some food products as a source of fiber, stabilizer and minerals as well as for its potential healthy effect [11]. Research on the fruit pulp of *H. thebaica* showed that it contains nutritional trace minerals, proteins and fatty acids, in particular the nutritionally essential linoleic acid [12].

Also, aqueous doum palm extracts increased the viability and activity of some certain dairy starter cultures which used in the manufacture of some dairy products especially probiotics [13].
