Biometric and biochemical characters of fruits of oleaster (Olea europaea var sylvestris) clones.

Twenty years ago, in the framework of the research program
aimed to the study of the oleaster (Olea europaea var.
sylvestris) genetic resources some clones have been selected
from wild populations and agamically propagated in a
repository at Oristano (Central Western Sardinia, Italy). This
collection is submitted to experimental observation in order
to find valuable characters useful for the breeding of
the cultivated olive. In particular, oleaster fruits have been
harvested and observed for biometric characteristics and
biochemical composition of pulp using fruits of the olive
cultivar ‘Bosana’ as comparison. In the years 2012 and
2013, olives of this cultivar showed mean weights of 2.04
and 2.54 g and pulp/pit ratio of 2.38 and 2.77, while values
recorded for oleaster clones ranged from 0.30 and 0.65 g
and 0.59 to 1.38 respectively. Pulp acidity was comprised
between 1.0 and 2.0% for ‘Bosana’ and between 0.67 to
2.2% for oleaster clones. Oil content of the ‘Bosana’ pulp
ranged from 14 and 18%, while for oleaster from 1.5 to
6.67%. ‘Bosana’ olives showed maximum polyphenols content
of 30685 mg/kg of gallic acid and of anthocyans of
4300 mg/kg of malvine, while contents of polyphenols of
32131 mg/kg of gallic acid of anthocyans of 12376 mg/kg
of malvine were observed in oleaster clones. The ‘Bosana’
olives have a quite good content of polyphenols in the oil
but the possibility to have higher contents in other genotypes
may be of interest for breeding programs.