Recovery of ancient and rare olive germplasm and its bioactive potential

The olive tree is one of the most important economic, cultural, and environmental resources for the Mediterranean basin. The increasing attention to the continuous loss of plant genetic diversity due to social, economic and climatic changes, has favoured a renewed interest in strategies aimed at the recovery and conservation of these genetic resources. In the frame of a project for the valorization of the olive Apulian biodiversity (Re.Ger.O.P. project), 177 minor genotypes were recovered and submitted to morphological, molecular, technological and phytosanitary status analysis in comparison with reference cultivars, then they were propagated and transferred in an ex situ field.

In the meantime, nine minor Italian olive genotypes cultivated in three Italian regions has been molecularly fingerprinted with 12 nuclear microsatellites (SSRs), that were able to unequivocally identify all genotypes. Moreover, some of the principal phenolic compounds were determined and quantified in monovarietal oils and the expression levels of related genes were also investigated at different fruit developmental stages. Genotypes differed to the greatest extent in the content of oleacein (3,4-DHPEA-EDA) and total phenols. Thereby, minor local genotypes, characterized by stable production and resilience in a low-input agro-system, can provide a remarkable contribution to the improvement of the Italian olive production chain and can become very profitable from a socio-economic point of view.