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Agronomical, Phenotypical and Biochemical Evaluation of Olive
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Agronomical, Phenotypical and Biochemical Evaluation of Olive

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Physiology and Crop Production".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 4754

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Valentina Passeri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
CNR-Institute for Agricultural and Forest Systems in the Mediterranean, Via Madonna Alta 128, 06128 Perugia, Italy
Interests: biotechnologies to produce healthier foods and feeds; cloning and functional characterization of regulatory and structural genes involved in secondary metabolite synthesis and their stable accumulation in plant cells; plant breeding through transgenesis and interspecific hybridization; analysis via chromatographic and spectrophotometric techniques of the main compounds in fruits and olive oils

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The cultivated olive (Olea europaea L.) is one of the most representative and economically important crops in the Mediterranean region. The olive sector is currently experiencing a profound crisis due to the ever-changing environmental and climatic conditions and new phytosanitary emergencies. From this perspective derives the urgency to have alternative olive varieties that are resilient, adapted and plastic, and able to guarantee early fruiting and entry into production, as well as plant architecture suitable for fully mechanizing olive harvesting and pruning, low susceptibility to parasites and harmful pathogens, high productivity and oil yield, high content of secondary bioactive compounds, and high nutritional and sensory quality of olive oil.

Due to the prevalent out-crossing nature of the species, the olive still has a certain genetic variability to exploit in breeding programs. Accurate prospecting of olive-growing areas could highlight the presence of ancient, or wild olive trees, not traced back to previously cataloged varieties. In addition, it is possible to develop new varieties of olive trees starting from the crossing between known and genetically compatible genotypes to introduce improving characteristics.

This Special Issue welcomes scientific articles concerning the evaluation and selection of olive tree genotypes through agronomic, physiological, biochemical, and technological approaches in order to build a multidisciplinary network for a modern, more biodiverse, and competitive olive growing, with an increase in environmental sustainability and the safeguarding of product quality.

Dr. Valentina Passeri
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • olive
  • olive oil
  • genotype
  • phenotype
  • bioactive compounds
  • plant architecture
  • phenology
  • climate change

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 258 KiB  
Article
Bioactive Compounds in the Oils of the Autochthonous Slovenian Olive Varieties ‘Buga’, ‘Črnica’ and ‘Drobnica’
by Vasilij Valenčič, Milena Bučar-Miklavčič and Maja Podgornik
Plants 2024, 13(14), 1995; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants13141995 - 22 Jul 2024
Viewed by 487
Abstract
The adaptation of autochthonous olive varieties to local soil and climatic conditions can lead to a unique chemical composition and characteristics of olive oils that may differ from the generally accepted quality standards set out in the International Olive Oil Council strategy documents [...] Read more.
The adaptation of autochthonous olive varieties to local soil and climatic conditions can lead to a unique chemical composition and characteristics of olive oils that may differ from the generally accepted quality standards set out in the International Olive Oil Council strategy documents and EU regulations. Therefore, the fatty acid composition, biophenol, tocopherol, sterol and triterpenic dialcohol content and composition of the autochthonous Slovenian olive varieties ‘Buga’, ‘Črnica’ and ‘Drobnica’ were studied for a three-year period with the aim of valorising the characteristics of the three olive varieties. Standardised and accredited analytical methods in accordance with SIST EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 were applied. The results of the investigation showed that the highest average amount of oleic acid (75.75%) was found in the oils of the ‘Črnica’ variety, followed by the ‘Drobnica’ (72.06%) and the ‘Buga’ (68.73%). All three varieties are a good source of total biophenols (‘Buga’ 616 mg/kg, ‘Drobnica’ 569 mg/kg and ‘Črnica’ 427 mg/kg) and α-tocopherol (‘Buga’ 378 mg/kg, ‘Drobnica’ 279 mg/kg, and ‘Črnica’ 243 mg/kg). ‘Buga’ and ‘Drobnica’ are characterised by high amounts of total sterols, 2468 mg/kg and 2391 mg/kg, respectively, while ‘Črnica’ oils, in comparison, showed a lower average value of total sterols (1351 mg/kg). Due to their exceptional chemical composition, ‘Buga’, ‘Črnica’ and ‘Drobnica’ show great potential for the further cultivation and valorisation of traditional olive oil production in the region, thus contributing to the preservation of biodiversity and local traditions. The quality parameters of olive oil from the autochthonous Slovenian olive varieties ‘Buga’, ‘Črnica’ and ‘Drobnica’ also fulfil the limits for extra virgin olive oil according to the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2022/2104, despite local climatic influences. However, accelerated growth due to climatic changes affecting early harvest can lead to them falling outside these limits, which was observed in particular for the ‘Buga’ variety in terms of the linoleic acid content. This study emphasises the importance of timing the harvest to achieve optimum maturity and meet EU quality standards, taking into account the genetic makeup of the varieties and their response to the current climatic conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agronomical, Phenotypical and Biochemical Evaluation of Olive)
20 pages, 2567 KiB  
Article
Modeling Phenological Phases across Olive Cultivars in the Mediterranean
by Ali Didevarasl, Jose M. Costa Saura, Donatella Spano, Pierfrancesco Deiana, Richard L. Snyder, Maurizio Mulas, Giovanni Nieddu, Samanta Zelasco, Mario Santona and Antonio Trabucco
Plants 2023, 12(18), 3181; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12183181 - 5 Sep 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1378
Abstract
Modeling phenological phases in a Mediterranean environment often implies tangible challenges to reconstructing regional trends over heterogenous areas using limited and scattered observations. The present investigation aimed to project phenological phases (i.e., sprouting, blooming, and pit hardening) for early and mid–late olive cultivars [...] Read more.
Modeling phenological phases in a Mediterranean environment often implies tangible challenges to reconstructing regional trends over heterogenous areas using limited and scattered observations. The present investigation aimed to project phenological phases (i.e., sprouting, blooming, and pit hardening) for early and mid–late olive cultivars in the Mediterranean, comparing two phenological modeling approaches. Phenoflex is a rather integrated but data-demanding model, while a combined model of chill and anti-chill days and growing degree days (CAC_GDD) offers a more parsimonious and general approach in terms of data requirements for parameterization. We gathered phenological observations from nine experimental sites in Italy and temperature timeseries from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, Reanalysis v5. The best performances of the CAC_GDD (RMSE: 4 days) and PhenoFlex models (RMSE: 5–9.5 days) were identified for the blooming and sprouting phases of mid–late cultivars, respectively. The CAC_GDD model was better suited to our experimental conditions for projecting pit hardening and blooming dates (correlation: 0.80 and 0.70, normalized RMSE: 0.6 and 0.8, normalized standard deviation: 0.9 and 1.0). The optimization of the principal parameters confirmed that the mid–late cultivars were more adaptable to thermal variability. The spatial distribution illustrated the near synchrony of blooming dates between the early and mid–late cultivars compared to other phases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agronomical, Phenotypical and Biochemical Evaluation of Olive)
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18 pages, 1852 KiB  
Article
The Ancient Olive Trees (Olea europaea L.) of the Maltese Islands: A Rich and Unexplored Patrimony to Enhance Oliviculture
by Valentina Passeri, Clayton Sammut, David Mifsud, Andrea Domesi, Vitale Stanzione, Luciana Baldoni, Soraya Mousavi, Roberto Mariotti, Saverio Pandolfi, Nicola Cinosi, Franco Famiani and Marina Bufacchi
Plants 2023, 12(10), 1988; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12101988 - 15 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2159
Abstract
A prospecting campaign in the Maltese Islands has ensured the survival of several ancient olive trees (Olea europaea L.), genetically distant from known cultivars. Most of these plants were abandoned or partially cultivated. A two-year evaluation of fruit characteristics and compositions was [...] Read more.
A prospecting campaign in the Maltese Islands has ensured the survival of several ancient olive trees (Olea europaea L.), genetically distant from known cultivars. Most of these plants were abandoned or partially cultivated. A two-year evaluation of fruit characteristics and compositions was performed on samples collected from the main representatives of these indigenous genotypes. Analyses were carried out using Gas Chromatography, High-Performance Liquid Chromatography and Near Infrared Spectrometry. Among the fruit samples, a wide range of variations was observed. Some of the genotypes showed fruit traits suitable for table olive production. This is the case of samples with a pulp/pit ratio higher than four, such as 1Wardija, 1Caritas, 1Plattini, 1Bingemma Malta and 3Loretu, whilst 1Bidni, 1Mellieha, 2Qnotta, 3Loretu, 1Bingemma Malta and 1Caritas were suitable for dual purpose. The total phenol content ranged from 6.3 (1Wardija) to 117.9 (2Mtarfa) g/kg of fresh pulp. The average percentage of MUFA was quite low for most of the varieties. These genotypes, which presumably originated in the Maltese Islands and are well adapted to the local pedo-climatic conditions, are being propagated for the following evaluation of their bio-agronomical performance (production, suitability to intensive cultivation, environmental sustainability, product quality, etc.). The purpose is to select, among these local genotypes, the most outstanding varieties, in terms of phenolic and FA profile and agronomical potential, to spread into cultivation, thereby contributing to an increase in the quality of the local table and olive oil production, strongly linked to the territory. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agronomical, Phenotypical and Biochemical Evaluation of Olive)
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