**1. Introduction**

22 Olive Germplasm – The Olive Cultivation, Table Olive and Olive Oil Industry in Italy

Comptes Rendus Biologies, 335: 9, 563–572.

[74] Breton CM,& AJ Bervillé 2012 New hypothesis elucidates self-incompatibility in the olive tree regarding S-alleles dominance relationships as in the sporophytic model.

> The olive (*Olea europaea* L.) is an emblematic species that represents one of the most important fruit trees in the Mediterranean basin (Loumou & Giourga, 2003). The Mediterranean form, *Olea europaea*, subspecies *europaea*, which includes wild (*Olea europaea* subsp. *europaea* var. *sylvestris*) and cultivated olives (*Olea europaea* subsp. *europaea* var. *europaea*), is a diploid species (2n = 2x = 46) (Kumar *et al.*, 2011).

> The origin of the olive tree has been lost over time, coinciding and mingling with the expansion of Mediterranean civilizations which for centuries governed the destiny of mankind and left their imprint on Western culture. From the eastern of the Mediterranean basin, olive trees spread west throughout the Mediterranean area and into Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France. In 1560, the Spanish Conquistadors carried olive cuttings and seeds to Peru. From there or independently, olive trees were found in Mexico at Jesuit missions. The Franciscan padres carried olives and other fruits from San Blas, Mexico, into California. Sent by Jose de Galvez, Father Junipero Serra established the San Diego de Alcala Mission in 1769. Though oil production began there in the next decade, the first mention of oil was written in the records of the San Diego de Alcala Mission in 1803 as described by Father Lasuen (Winifred, 1967).

> Currently, a renewed emphasis of the health benefits of monosaturated olive oil has lead to a resurgence of olive oil production. The olive tree has been widely used for shade around homes and as a street tree in cities. Its distribution is only limited by cold weather in winter, indeed temperatures below 10 °C are lethal (Denney *et al.*, 1993). Most olive-growing areas lie between latitudes 30° and 45° north and south of the equator, although in Australia some of the recently established commercial olive orchards are nearer to the equator than to the 30° latitude and are producing a good yield; this may be because of their altitude or for other geographic reasons.

> Olive (*Olea europaea* L.) is the main cultivated species belonging to the monophyletic *Oleaceae* family that includes 30 genera and 600 species (Cronquist, 1981), within the clade of *Asterids*,

© 2012 Chiappetta, Muzzalupo, licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2012 Chiappetta, Muzzalupo, licensee InTech. This is a paper distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

in which the majority of nuclear and organellar genomic sequences are unknown. The *Olea* genus comprises 30 species and has spread to Europe, Asia, Oceania and Africa (Bracci *et al.*, 2011).

The olive is a member of the *Oleaceae*, the family that contains the genera *Fraxinus* (ash), *Forsythia* (golden bell), *Forestiera* (*F. neomexicana*, the California "wild-olive"), *Ligustrum* (privet), and *Syringa* (lilac) as well as *Olea* (olive). Its primary genetic resources are taxonomically classified in the *Olea europaea* complex in which six subspecies are recognized (Green, 2002) (scheme 1).


 *Olea* 

Sections: *Ligustroides* 

 **Sub-species:** *cuspidata laperrinei maroccana cerasiformis guanchica europaea* varieties: *sylvestris* (wild olive)  *europaea* (cultivated olive)

Botanical Description 25

between wild and cultivated forms could have led to new cultivars around Mediterranean

Nowadays, there are more than 2000 cultivars in the Mediterranean basin that displays huge diversity based on fruit morphology and pit size and morphology and several modern cultivars display small pits such as the *sylvestris*, making the distinction criteria doubtful

Until recent years, cultivar identification was based only on morphological and agronomic traits. However, recognition of olive cultivars based on phenotypic characters appeared to be problematic, especially in the early stages of tree development. Traditionally diversity within and between olive tree cultivars was determined by assessing differences in the olive tree, namely leaf shape and color, and olive fruits morphology. These measures have the advantage of being readily available, do not require sophisticated equipment and are the most direct measure of phenotype, thus they are accessible for immediate use, an important attribute. However, these morphological and phenological markers have the disadvantage of the small number of polymorphism detected and of being environmentally dependent (Mohan *et al.*, 1997; Tanksley & Orton, 1983). Besides that, some of the phenological characteristics are only accessible for a limited period (e.g., olive fruits) or when the olive tree achieves a mature stage, which may delay correct identification. Due to the high genetic diversity level observed in olive germoplasm and the presence of homonym and synonym

*Olea europaea subsp. cuspidata* is a native from South Africa, from which it spread through the Middle East, Pakistan, India to China. Subtropical dry forests of *Olea europaea subsp.* 

In the nineteenth century it was introduced to the Australian territory for economic purposes (Spennemann & Allen, 2000; Bass *et al,* 2006). Since 1960, cuspidata naturalized populations have been found in the Hawaii Archipelago (Starr *et al.*, 2003). The *Olea europaea* subsp. *cuspidata* includes much - branched evergreen trees, which vary their size between 2 to 15 m in height. The leaves have an opposite, decussate arrangement, and are entire. Their size is between 3 to 7 cm in length and 0.8 to 2.5 cm in width. The leave apex is acute with a small hook or point, and the base is attenuate to cuneate. Leaf margins are entire and recurved, the upper surface is grey-green and glossy, and the lower surface has a dense covering of silvery, golden or brown scales. Venation is obvious on the upper surface and

Fruit are borne in panicles or racemes 50 to 60 mm long. The calyx is four-lobed and is about 1 mm long. The corolla is greenish-white or cream; the tube is 1 to 2 mm long; lobes are about 3 mm long and reflexed at the anthesis. The two stamens are fused near the top of the

cases, efficient and rapid discriminatory methods are urgently required.

*cuspidata* are found in the Himalayan subtropical broadleaf forests ecoregion.

**2. Description of the** *Olea europaea* **sub-species** 

obscure on the lower surface; the petiole is up to 10 mm long.

corolla tube, with bilobed stigma.

countries (Besnard *et al*., 2001).

**2.1.** *Olea cuspidate*

(Bartolini *et al.,* 1998; 2002; Ganino *et al.*, 2006).

**Scheme 1.** Taxonomic scheme of *Olea europaea* L.

 *Olea* 

The *Olea europaea* subsp. *europaea* include the wild form, also named *sylvestris*, and the cultivated form, called *Olea europaea* subsp. *europaea* var. *europaea*. The olive tree is selfincompatible. Out - crossing is mediated by the wind that transports pollen over long distances, with cytoplasmic male - sterile cultivars being pollinated efficiently by surrounding cultivars or even by sylvestris (Besnard *et al.*, 2000). It is assumed that cultivars originated from the wild Mediterranean olive and have been disseminated all around the Mediterranean countries following human displacement. It is also presumed that crosses between wild and cultivated forms could have led to new cultivars around Mediterranean countries (Besnard *et al*., 2001).

Nowadays, there are more than 2000 cultivars in the Mediterranean basin that displays huge diversity based on fruit morphology and pit size and morphology and several modern cultivars display small pits such as the *sylvestris*, making the distinction criteria doubtful (Bartolini *et al.,* 1998; 2002; Ganino *et al.*, 2006).

Until recent years, cultivar identification was based only on morphological and agronomic traits. However, recognition of olive cultivars based on phenotypic characters appeared to be problematic, especially in the early stages of tree development. Traditionally diversity within and between olive tree cultivars was determined by assessing differences in the olive tree, namely leaf shape and color, and olive fruits morphology. These measures have the advantage of being readily available, do not require sophisticated equipment and are the most direct measure of phenotype, thus they are accessible for immediate use, an important attribute. However, these morphological and phenological markers have the disadvantage of the small number of polymorphism detected and of being environmentally dependent (Mohan *et al.*, 1997; Tanksley & Orton, 1983). Besides that, some of the phenological characteristics are only accessible for a limited period (e.g., olive fruits) or when the olive tree achieves a mature stage, which may delay correct identification. Due to the high genetic diversity level observed in olive germoplasm and the presence of homonym and synonym cases, efficient and rapid discriminatory methods are urgently required.
