In Apulia (Southern Italy), about 50 supposedly different olive cultivars are grown on about 358,000 hectares. Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in the Apulian nursery industry and today it produces over 1.5 million olive plants annually. About 70% of these plants belong to 6 cultivars, but the region retains century-old varieties and local ecotypes which have not yet been systematically evaluated and classified for their genetic relationships. Some cultivars are named 'Ogliarola' in relation to their oil making quality. Although presumed to be native to the area almost all have unknown origin. In addition, cultivars of extraregional origin are being actively propagated. A selected group of 13 genotypes diffused in Apulia, mostly Ogliarola-named, were compared using 18 primer combinations over 792 AFLP loci, and 241 polymorphisms were found. Besides confirmimg the high genetic variation of olive germplasm, the results reveal strong similarities among the nationally-diffused cultivar Frantoio and the Apulian genotypes Ogliarola Barese (Cima di Bitonto) and Ogliarola Garganica, and also ascertained a case of homonymy for Cima di Melfi.
Use of AFLP to characterize apulian olive varieties (O-europaea L.)
PALASCIANO, Marino
2002-01-01
Abstract
In Apulia (Southern Italy), about 50 supposedly different olive cultivars are grown on about 358,000 hectares. Over the past twenty years there has been an increase in the Apulian nursery industry and today it produces over 1.5 million olive plants annually. About 70% of these plants belong to 6 cultivars, but the region retains century-old varieties and local ecotypes which have not yet been systematically evaluated and classified for their genetic relationships. Some cultivars are named 'Ogliarola' in relation to their oil making quality. Although presumed to be native to the area almost all have unknown origin. In addition, cultivars of extraregional origin are being actively propagated. A selected group of 13 genotypes diffused in Apulia, mostly Ogliarola-named, were compared using 18 primer combinations over 792 AFLP loci, and 241 polymorphisms were found. Besides confirmimg the high genetic variation of olive germplasm, the results reveal strong similarities among the nationally-diffused cultivar Frantoio and the Apulian genotypes Ogliarola Barese (Cima di Bitonto) and Ogliarola Garganica, and also ascertained a case of homonymy for Cima di Melfi.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
