Identification of the promising olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars based on morphological and pomological characters.

Abstract

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is an ancient tree and can tolerate drought very well. In the present study, morphological and pomological diversity of 24 olive cultivars (5–15 replications for each cultivar, 243 trees in total) was evaluated. There were significant differences among the cultivars studied based on the characters recorded. The CV was more than 20.00% in 46 of 50 characters measured. Leaf length ranged from 27.07 to 78.54 mm, and leaf width varied from 5.42 to 23.06 mm. Ripening date ranged from late‐August to early‐October. Fruit length ranged from 13.04 to 33.72 mm, fruit diameter varied from 10.24 to 23.71 mm, fruit weighted from 0.97 to 9.61 g, and the range of fruit flesh thickness was 1.63–7.65 mm. There was high variability in terms of fruit color, ranging from light green to black. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) performed based on the mean of replications with Euclidean distance and Ward method grouped the cultivars into two major clusters. Differences in many of the morphological traits were observed across the cultivars. These sets of data were used to identify unique and desirable cultivars morphologically. The present research demonstrates that local olive cultivars have unique characteristics that differentiate them from imported cultivars. Thus, local cultivars provide novel genetic resources that should be conserved.