Objectives

Evaluation at the phenotypic level of olive varieties preserving their intact potential may allow detecting and then exploiting variants of primary interest for the new challenges of agricultural production in a context requiring a higher resilience to climatic variations and the production of functional food. Identification of variants showing interesting phenotypes (disease tolerance, abiotic stress tolerance, peculiar oil composition, new health-valued compounds, new flavors, etc.) will represent the main road towards the revitalization of the olive growing at European and international level.
Initiatives for large-scale phenotyping with predictive value have been independently undertaken by Partners of this Project, but a systematic and thorough trait screening is becoming mandatory to fully assess varietal performance.
Main objectives of this activity include:
- Establishing common protocols for high-throughput phenotyping of olive varieties;
- Constructing a phenotypic database;
- Providing phenotypical information of wild and cultivated olive trees growing under different environmental conditions;
- Characterizing important adaptive traits among the olive genetic resources (i.e. adaptation to biotic and abiotic stresses, high productivity and quality yields);
- Screening and selecting olive germplasm for resistance to drought and/or salinity;
- Comparing methodologies to characterize the level and distribution of varieties related to oil quality profiles

Description of Work

• Task 3.1. Establishing a common protocol to describe olive varieties through morphological parameters
• Task Leader: CNR-IBBR
• Task 3.2. Evaluating phenotypic performance of varieties to the main biotic stresses
• Task Leader: UNIPG
• Task 3.3. Comparison of methodologies to characterize the level and distribution of varieties related to oil quality profiles
• Task Leader: CNR-ISAFOM
• Task 3.4. Establishing how self- and inter-incompatibility are distributed among varieties
• Task Leader: SUPAGRO
• Task 3.5. Defining the capacity of main olive varieties and wild plants to face environmental stresses mainly referred to climatic changes (e.g. drought, salt, heat stress)
• Task Leader: MAICH
• Task 3.6. Evaluating the varietal agronomical performance
• Task Leader: IFAPA

Deliverables & Milestones

• D.3.1.1. Common protocol to collect morphological parameters (M12)
• D.3.1.2. First draft of an image database (M24)
• D.3.1.3. First draft of a common database of morphological parameters (M36)
• D.3.1.4. Final release and online publication of a common database on morphological parameters (M48)
• D.3.2.1. Core set of genotypes present in the main olive cultivar collections and grown under different agro-environmental conditions to evaluate their agronomical performance (M12)
• D.3.2.2. Phenotypic profile of varieties (resistant/susceptible) related to the Verticillium (Verticillium dahliae) disease (M24)
• D.3.2.3. Phenotypic profile of varieties (resistant/susceptible) related to the olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) insect (M36)
• D.3.2.4. Phenotypic profile of varieties (resistant/susceptible) related to the olive leaf spot (Spilocaea oleagina) disease (M48)
• D.3.3.1. Phenotypic profile of varieties related to fatty acid olive oil composition (M36)
• D.3.3.2. First draft of a phenotypic profile of varieties related to biophenols, secoiridoids, steroids and tocoferols olive oil composition (M24)
• D.3.3.3. Phenotypic profile of varieties related to biophenols, secoiridoids, steroids and tocoferols olive oil composition (M48)
• D.3.4.1. Self-incompatibility profile for the most important 200 varieties (M24)
• D.3.4.2. Inter-incompatibility profile for the most important 200 varieties (M48)
• D.3.5.1. Capacity of main olive varieties and wild plants to face drought stress (M12)
• D.3.5.2. Capacity of main olive varieties and wild plants to face salt stress (M24)
• D.3.5.3. Capacity of main olive varieties and wild plants to face heat stress(M36)
• D.3.6.1 Phenotypic profile of varieties related to the varietal use (M36)
• D.3.6.2 Phenotypic profile of varieties related to tree vigour and canopy shape (M36)
• D.3.6.3 Phenotypic profile of varieties related to the early bearing (M36)
• D.3.6.4 Best varieties associations for the most relevant olive-producing areas (M36)
• D3.7. Seminars and Workshops related to each secondment (Throughout the project duration)