INTRODUCTION
Olive (Olea europaea L.)
is the most extensively cultivated
fruit crop in the world (FAO, 2004). Its cultivation area has tripled
in the
past 44 years, passing from 2.6 to 8.5 million of hectares. This
emerging
appeal is mainly due to the recognized nutritional value of its
products
combined to its tolerance to drought, salinity etc. Despite this large
expansion, intra-specific diversity of olive is threatened by several
factors
including the abandonment of marginal soils, biotic and abiotic
stresses,
urbanisation, replacement of old groves with other species and
substitution of
rustic cultivars with more productive ones. For purposes of
conservation and
sustainable utilization, it is therefore very important to clearly
identify
true existing cultivars, their characteristics and the collections in
which
they are preserved.
In 1998, the first edition of the
“Olive Germplasm: Cultivars and
World-Wide Collections” was developed by the Istituto per la
Valorizzazione del
Legno e delle Specie Arboree – Consiglio Nazionale delle
Ricerche and published
in collaboration with FAO Seed and Plant Genetic Resources Service
(AGPS).
This unique publication was prepared by:
(i) conducting a comprehensive literature
review of more than 800
references published in the last 100 years;
(ii) extracting information from these
publications on cultivar
names, including synonyms and homonyms, essential characteristics
(purpose,
fertility, productivity, oil content, rooting ability, stress tolerance
and
biochemical and/or molecular identification), areas of cultivation and
genebank
collections;
(iii) building a relational database on olive
cultivars, which was
made available on Internet under the FAO World Information and Early
Warning
System on Plant Genetic Resources (WIEWS).
In addition, in 2002, FAO published a book on
the “Classification,
origin, diffusion and history of the olive” to provide
updated information on
taxonomy, geographical distribution and utilization of this fruit crop.
The 2005 web edition of the “Olive
Germplasm: Cultivars and
World-Wide Collections” represents an update of the one
published in 1998 and
includes: information extracted from 1,256 publications; 1,208 cultivar
names
reported in 52 countries and conserved in 94 collections. In addition,
new characteristics
such as oil extraction and reactions to additional biotic stresses have
also
been included, as well as references to biochemical and molecular
characterization.
The new 2008 web edition (data bank) of the
“Olive Germplasm”
constantly updated and corrected, includes data on all the characters
published
extracted from 1,520 publications which have concerned about 1,250 cultivars in 54 countries and
conserved in over 100
collections.
As per the previous edition, my colleagues and
I are very grateful
to all the friends and colleagues who contributed with their
information,
advice and views to make this publication possible.
Giorgio Bartolini
Istituto per la Valorizzazione del Legno e delle Specie Arboree
– CNR
Florence, Italy
g.bartolini@ivalsa.cnr.it