Behaviour of some olive accessions resulting from an olive improvement program

Abstract EN

The olive (Olea europaea) is one of the most important oleaginous crops of the Mediterranean basin.

Increased demand for olive oil creates a need for new olive varieties to help meet the requirements of the global market.

Rapid technological changes in olive growing have increased interest in breeding programs and new cultivars.

A breeding program aimed at selecting new dual purpose (i.e.

oil and table olive) cultivars, began in Egypt in 1994.

A three successive years evolution (2011, 2012 and 2013) was conducted on progenies resulted from crosses between (Koronaki x Hamed), (Manzanello x Hamed) (Picual x Hamed) and (Arbquine x Hamed).

The progenies have been analyzed for some tree growth traits, growth, blooming, fruiting, fruit quality and rootability.

The obtained data, concluded that some valuable selections have resulted from this study progenies No.

73, 91 and 100 for table olive, whereas progenies No.

42, 47, 71, 89 and 98 for oil besides, progenies No.

57 and 59 for dual purpose.

Thereupon, it is preferable to propagate all the best selected progenies and planted in three locations, in order to evaluate their performance (i.e., tree growth, yield, fruit characteristics, oil content and oil compositions in fatty acids) in different geographical areas.

It remains necessary to study quantities and qualitative traits of olive production in more detail, for the most interesting selections