Evaluation data from an olive germplasm collection

An olive tree Sardinian germplasm collection, located in the north of the island, was previously characterized for morphological traits following the common methodology defined within the RESGEN 96-97 European project. Twenty local varieties, classified on the basis of the phenotipic similarity into different groups, were described for characters related to rooting capability, flowering process, fruit set and ripening based on peel colour changes. Each group of varieties showed its own particular developmental trend of fruit ripening index, thus confirming the results obtained through the first characterization. The other descriptors proved to be useful also for identification of varieties within the defined groups. The results obtained showed the effectiveness of the adopted methodology for the characterization of the Sardinian olive germplasm and gave evidence of the genetic variability within the observed groups of synonyms.