Search

The phenotypic and genetic variability of local olives in a perspective of diversity conservation should be maintained andpreserved. Fourteen unknown olive genotypes were selected from abandoned and isolated plants in Umbria region andcharacterized by ten SSR markers. The molecular analysis led to identify ten previously unknown genotypes within the patrimony of the region, made up by about 10 main cultivars and more than 100 minor ones. Fruit samples were randomlycollected from the selected plants during two growing seasons and oil was extracted from each sample. Analyses of fatty acidcomposition, phenolic profile (flavonoids, phenolic acids, phenolic alcohols and lignans), tocopherols, squalene and sterols were performed on these oils. Significant differences were observed in terms of main fatty acids (e.g. oleic acid from 71.83to 76.73%), but not for the minor ones. The important differences were instead obtained on the amount of α-tocopherol,ranging from 149 to 583 mg kg−1, and on squalene, spanning from 1059 to 5447 mg kg−1. Evaluation of major and minorcompounds with the principal component analysis of the main oil quality parameters revealed differentiation according tothe genotypes. The analysis of neglected olive genotypes from a small area of cultivation has led to the identification of a promising source of variability for most sought-after traits, which could be exploited for new olive plantations and to magnifythe spectrum of local olive oils.

Olive cultivation is increasing around the world, expanding from its native area of cultivation. To meet this new demand, breeding is playing an important role to introduce into cultivation new cultivars with desirable attributes of olive oil quality. Eighteen seedlings, derived from 'Leccino' × 'Ascolana Tenera', 'Leccino' × 'Dolce Agogia' and 'Leccino' × 'Kalamata', together with parental cultivars, were selected based on their productivity. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and phenolic compositions were evaluated. Characterization of the phenolic profiles was performed by liquid-liquid extraction with 80:20 (v/v) methanol/water and subsequent chromatographic analysis with UV-liquid chromatography and spectrophotometer absorption. To determine the FAME composition, samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). High variability was detected within and between the different cross progenies, with considerable deviation from their parents. In general, the highest values of total phenols (700 mg kg-1 oil) were measured in 'Leccino' × 'Ascolana Tenera' seedlings, with large amounts of individual phenols, such as forms of oleuropein and vanillic, p-coumaric, ferulic and cinnamic acids. Furthermore, a seedling from 'Leccino' × 'Ascolana Tenera' revealed interesting percentage of FAMEs, especially for oleic (85.42%) and linoleic (5.38%) acids. The study established the possibility of improving the quality of olive oil by cross-breeding of known cultivars. The best seedlings will be propagated for further evaluations such as agronomical, physiological and biochemical aspects.

The kinetic behaviour of olive tree pruning (PR), two- (2PH) and three-phase (3PH) olive pomace and their blends was investigated under combustion condition using thermogravimetric analysis. PR was blended with 2PH and 3PH at different ratios (25:75, 50:50 and 75:25) and tested in the temperature range from ambient to 1000 °C in order to evaluate the co-combustion behaviour. Results showed that the thermal degradation of all samples can be divided into three regions (drying, devolatilisation, char oxidation) with different combustion properties, depending on the percentage of PR. Significant interaction was detected between the fuels, and reactivity of 2PH and 3PH was improved upon blending with PR. The iso-conversional methods, Ozawa-Flynn-Wall and Vyazovkin, were employed for the kinetic analysis of the oxidation process. The results revealed that the activation energy of PR was higher than the one of 2PH and 3PH, and the minimum value was obtained for25PR752PH sample.

Olive is a long-living perennial species with a wide geographical distribution, showing a large genetic and phenotypic variation in its growing area. There is an urgent need to uncover how olive phenotypic traits and plasticity can change regardless of the genetic background. A two-year study was conducted, based on the analysis of fruit and oil traits of 113 cultivars from fve germplasm collections established in Mediterranean Basin countries and Argentina. Fruit and oil traits plasticity, broad‐sense heritability and genotype by environment interaction were estimated. From variance and heritability analyses, it was shown that fruit fresh weight was mainly under genetic control, whereas oleic/(palmitic+linoleic) acids ratio was regulated by the environment and genotype by environment interaction had the major efect on oil content. Among the studied cultivars, diferent level of stability was observed, which allowed ranking the cultivars based on their plasticity for oil traits. High thermal amplitude, the diference of low and high year values of temperature, negatively afected the oil content and the oleic acid percentage. Information derived from this work will help to direct the selection of cultivars with the highest global ftness averaged over the environments rather than the highest ftness in each environment separately. EEA San Juan Fil: Mousavi, Soraya. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources; Italia Fil: Mousavi, Soraya. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems of the Mediterranean; Italia Fil: De la Rosa, Raúl. Instituto Andaluz de Investigación y Formación Agraria, Pesquera, Alimentaria y de la Producción Ecológica (IFAPA). - Centro Alameda del Obispo; España Fil: Moukhli, Abdelmajid. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA). Centre Régional de la Recherche Agronomique( CRRA); Marruecos Fil: El Riachy, Milad. Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI); Líbano Fil: Mariotti, Roberto. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources; Italia Fil: Torres, Myriam Mariela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Juan; Argentina. Fil: Torres, Myriam Mariela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Pierantozzi, Pierluigi. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Juan; Argentina. Fil: Pierantozzi, Pierluigi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Stanzione, Vitale. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems of the Mediterranean; Italia Fil: Mastio, Valerio. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems of the Mediterranean; Italia Fil: Zaher, Hayat. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA). Centre Régional de la Recherche Agronomique; Marruecos Fil: El Antari, Abderraouf. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA). Centre Régional de la Recherche Agronomique; Marruecos Fil: Ayoub, Salam. National Agricultural Research Center (NARC); Jordania Fil: Dandachi, Faten. Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI); Líbano Fil: Youssef, Hiyam. Lebanese Agricultural Research Institute (LARI); Líbano Fil: Aggelou, Nikolas. Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICh). Department of Horticultural Genetics and Biotechnology; Grecia Fil: Contreras Valetín, Ana Cibeles. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria San Juan; Argentina. Fil: Contreras Valetín, Ana Cibeles. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Maestri, Damián. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología Vegetal (IMBV); Argentina Fil: Maestri, Damián. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina Fil: Belaj, Angjelina. Instituto Andaluz de Investigación y Formación Agraria, Pesquera, Alimentaria y de la Producción Ecológica (IFAPA). - Centro Alameda del Obispo; España Fil: Bufacchi, Marina. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems of the Mediterranean; Italia Fil: Baldoni, Luciana. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources; Italia Fil: León, Lorenzo. Instituto Andaluz de Investigación y Formación Agraria, Pesquera, Alimentaria y de la Producción Ecológica (IFAPA). - Centro Alameda del Obispo; España