Morphological Study of Olive Cultivars Olea europaea L. Cultivated in Central and Southern of Iraq

Abstract

The phenotypic characteristics of 14 olive cultivars cultivated in some central and southern provinces of Iraq were studied, they were two local varieties (Baashiqi and Dahkan), eight varieties introduced (Arbequina, Picual, Nepali Mohsen and Manzanilo, Qaisi, Surani, Khudairi and Santa Caterina), four cultivars from Thi Qar Governorate (Akeka K, L, M and N). The cultivars were described phenotypically by studying some parts of the tree, depending on the specifications of the International Olive Council IOC, it was noted that the characteristic of medium length of the interphalanges is dominant. The leaf area of the Dahkan cultivar was 7.21 cm2, superior to the rest of the cultivars, which ranged from medium to large in size. The cultivars varied in terms of leaf thickness, ranging from low to medium thickness, the variety Dahkan was characterized by a high thickness, which amounted to 0.052. The leaf length of the studied cultivars ranged from medium to short, and the width of the leaf was from medium to broad in the cultivar Dahkan and Qaisi, as for the shape of the leaf, the cultivar distinguishes Sorani with a tapering tip, while the cultivars differed between ovoid to ovoid with a tapering tip. The results of the genetic dimension analysis of the phenotypic characterization showed that there were clear differences between the studied cultivars, the data obtained have been used, to create a kinship chart, which showed the most phenotypically distant cultivars between the Sourani and Dahkan cultivars, with a difference rate of 5.806. As for the least phenotypic differences between the Santa Caterina cultivars and the Akika L cultivar, with a distance of 0.591.