Characterization of olive plants (Olea europaea L.) obtained with micropropagation and cuttings

With the increasing demand for olive trees (Olea europaea L.) worldwide, there is a need to develop an efficient technique for large-scale production of olive plants with high agronomic and phytosanitary quality.
In this study, we compared plants obtained with micropropagation and with cuttings for some agronomic and physiological traits within two olive tree cultivars ‘Arbosana’ and ‘Arbequina’. The micropropagation method significantly affected growth, chlorophyll index, chlorophyll fluorescence, and stomatal density.
The in vitro plants tended to have a higher stem elongation while the plants from cuttings developed more ramifications that limited the stem growth.
The stomatal density was lower in in vitro plants while no differences were recorded for stomatal conductance and water potential.
In ‘Arbosana’, the root system and leaf area were significantly higher in in vitro plants in comparison with plants from cuttings.
Whereas no differences were noted in ‘Arbequina’. These results obtained from plants grown in greenhouse conditions suggest that in vitro plants have higher agronomic and physiological performances that will be economically advantageous for nurseries and farmers.
A deeper study will be necessary in order to evaluate the performance of these plants in field.

XXX International Horticultural Congress IHC2018: II International Symposium on Micropropagation and In Vitro Techniques

M. Matmati, H.R. Khouja, M. Ben Mimoun

dry weight, greenhouse, vegetative growth, number of leaves, SPAD, water potential

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2020.1285.21