Domesticazione delle forme selvatiche diOlea europaeaper la produzione di biomasse legnose

The Mediterranean woody plants have been recently revaluated as renewable energy source and good carbon
dioxide fixer. In fact, the Mediterranean environment is potential1y favourable to a high photosynthetic
activity of the vegetation cover with some limitation during the summer (dryness) and, to a minor extent,
during the winter (cold). The availability of autochthonous species well adapted to the environment also in
the field of the silviculture and, particularly, of the wood arboriculture is a technical advantage, while the
harmonization with the spontaneous vegetation in the landscape is appreciated in the tourist areas.The wild variety ofOlea europaeais one of the most typical constituents of the Mediterranean maquis and
landscape but also a sustainable and effective model of cultivation for wood biomass production.Ten years of investigation have been performed in Sardinia to evaluate the spontaneous populations of
oleaster. Genetic and phenotypic variability, seed and agamic propagation, as well as the adaptation to the
intensive wood arboriculture have been observed in a group of clone selections.