Abstract

Olive is one of the oldest cultivated species in the Mediterranean Basin, including Tunisia, where it has a wide diversity, with more than 200 cultivars, of both wild and feral forms. Many minor cultivars are still present in marginal areas of Tunisia, where they are maintained by farmers in small local groves, but they are poorly characterized and evaluated. In order to recover this neglected germplasm, surveys were conducted in different areas, and 31 genotypes were collected, molecularly characterized with 12 nuclear microsatellite (simple sequence repeat (SSR)) markers, and compared with 26 reference cultivars present in the Tunisian National Olive collection. The analysis revealed an overall high genetic diversity of this olive’s germplasm, but also discovered the presence of synonymies and homonymies among the commercialized varieties. The structure analysis showed the presence of different gene pools in the analyzed germplasm. In particular, the marginal germplasm from Ras Jbal and Azmour is characterized by gene pools not present in commercial (Nurseries) varieties, pointing out the very narrow genetic base of the commercialized olive material in Tunisia, and the need to broaden it to avoid the risk of genetic erosion of this species in this country.

Highlights

  • Olive (Olea europaea var. sativa Hoffm. and Lk.), with 715 million olive trees covering an area of more than 7 million hectares, is one of the most important fruit trees in all the countries overlooking the Mediterranean Sea [1]

  • This paper reports the results of the project, addressing the following aspects: i) the recovery of new germplasm from marginal areas; ii) the genetic identification of this germplasm, solving cases of homonyms and synonyms; iii) the definition of an allelic consensus list; iv) the improvement of knowledge about the genetic variability of Tunisian germplasm; v) the enrichment of the reference collection of Tunisian olive varieties

  • The territory still holds a large genetic diversity for the species [31], both for cultivated and feral forms that are localized in remote areas of the country

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Summary

Introduction

Olive (Olea europaea var. sativa Hoffm. and Lk.), with 715 million olive trees covering an area of more than 7 million hectares, is one of the most important fruit trees in all the countries overlooking the Mediterranean Sea [1]. Plants 2020, 9, 382 olive and oil production, and for characterizing, shaping, and protecting the landscape [2] It is considered a symbol of the Mediterranean cultural heritage, an emblem of longevity and unity since the time of Roman domination, when it constituted a political and religious myth [3]. Olive oil represents 40% of the overall value of agronomic exports of the country, and, as a primary source of income for the Tunisian people, it is a main factor of economic and social stability. This species, adapted to the severely hot climatic conditions, plays an important ecological role in the preservation of the environment and in the fight against desertification

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