Morphological and Genetical Characterisation of the main Palestinian olive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars

Abstract A study was conducted to compare morphological, biochemical and genetical characterstics of the main olive cultivars in Palestine. The cultivar studied were; Nabali Baladi , Nabali Mohassan and Souri. Samples were taken from leaves, flowers, fruits and stones for both morphological characters, oil was extracted from the different cultivars for biochemical analysis, for molecular analysis DNA was extracted from leaf tissue and SSR primer analysis was used. Genetic distances between individual trees were calculated using Dice similarity coefficient and the dendrogram based on UPGMA cluster analysis was constructed. Notable significant differences among the cultivars were observed in all characteristics considered,including ; tree canopy, leaves, inflorescence and fruit characterstics. The acidity, peroxide number and the spectro-photometer absorbencies in ultra-violet were low of the oils of all cultivars were very low. Most cultivars had an oleic content of about 60% or higher except for the cultivar Nabali Mohassan. The sterol composition and content were quite different in the cultivars. The Nabali Baladi cultivar had a relatively high value of Δ-7stigmastenol. All of the biochemical values (acidity, peroxide number, absorbencies in ultra-violet, fatty acid composition, sterol composition and content) used to evaluate oil quality were within the IOOC trade standards. Microstalite matker was used for fingerprinting and for evaluation of genetic similarity of eight olive sample which collected from Palestine. Seventeen alleles were revealed with five SSR that were selected based on previous literature. The number of allele per locus varied from 2.0 at GAPU-103 and DCA9 to 5.0 at U99-36 and DCA16. The eight olive samples were classified into three major clusters using UPGMA clustering analysis; cultivar Nabali Baladi represent the first group and consisted of four samples. Some morphological and biochemi¬cal characteristics of cultivar Nabali Baladi were also distinct from those of the other cultivars; the second cluster consisted of three sample that represent Nabali Mohassan; the third cluster contained only one sample that represent Souri cultivars. The similarity coefficients between the eight olive trees samples varied from 1.0 to 0.31. These SSR loci allowed unequivocal identification of all the cultivars and will be useful for future breeding and olive germplasm management efforts.