Investigating some pomological and physiological traits of some olive cultivars in Daram area of ??Tarem city

Master's thesis in the field of horticulture-fruit work

Abstract

In order to investigate the phenology of flowers and fruits in some experimental olive cultivars in the form of randomized complete block design with 5 cultivars and five replicates and 5 trees per replicate in the Drum area of ??Tarem city. came Olive cultivars included Caillet, Mission, Manzanilla, Conservalia and Zard. In this research, flowering and fruit characteristics of trees were measured based on the guidelines provided by the International Olive Council (IOC). The obtained results showed that there was no significant difference between cultivars in terms of the number of inflorescences, the number of flowers in an inflorescence and the percentage of complete flowers. Caillet variety had the highest number of inflorescences and Conservalia had the lowest number. The highest and lowest number of flowers were related to Conservalia and Manzanilla cultivars, respectively. The yellow variety had the highest percentage of full flowers and the Mission variety had the lowest amount of this trait. Also, the average comparison of the data showed that there is a significant difference between the cultivars in terms of meat percentage, meat to kernel ratio, fruit formation percentage and fruit weight, oil percentage in dry matter. The highest and lowest percentage of flesh, the ratio of flesh to kernel and the percentage of fruit formation are related to Conservalia and Caillet cultivars, respectively. Also, Conservalia had the highest fruit weight and the yellow cultivar had the lowest amount of this trait among the studied cultivars. Manzanilla and Zard had the highest and lowest percentage of oil in dry matter. After leaf analysis, the highest amount of highly consumed elements was observed in Manzanilla variety.

Key words: olive cultivars, phenological, pomological traits, drum

Chapter One: General

Introduction

Olive plant belongs to Olea genus and Oleaceae family with more than 30-40 species. Its most famous species is Olea europaea, which is planted in all parts of the world. Olive is one of the oldest fruit trees and the main source of edible oil in the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Today, with the progress of science and the identification of the nutritional and therapeutic properties of olives and their oil, the tendency to consume them has increased significantly, because olive oil has a high level of oleic acid (one of the healthiest fatty acids) (Saifi, 2008). In order to prevent imports, it is necessary to develop the cultivation of this product, but unfortunately, due to the existence of some obvious shortcomings and weaknesses, such as: determining the best variety in terms of performance, lack of proper investment in conversion industries, lack of expert staff, poor training of gardeners, weak financial base of most project contractors in fighting against the spread of pests and diseases. Failure to seriously deal with "the entry of counterfeit olive oil and smuggled olive seeds without quarantine" in the market, while creating unhealthy competition with domestic producers, leads to the entry of dangerous pests into olive groves. The above reasons are among the factors that can negatively affect the development of olive orchards.

Olive is one of the most important garden products of Tarem city in Zanjan province, and its cultivated area is increasing, especially in the Drum area of ??this city. And several programs for the establishment of olive groves and the modification of cultivars incompatible with the grafting method are being implemented in the region. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce commercial cultivars compatible with the conditions of this region. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the important quantitative characteristics of flowers and fruits of some important olive cultivars in the area of ??Drum. In this way, while comparing cultivars with each other, it is possible to introduce suitable cultivars for the region, and by grouping cultivars in terms of flower and fruit quantitative traits, it is possible to select suitable parents to advance breeding programs through the implementation of targeted crossings. It requires experimental cultures and proof of their performance.In other words, it is possible to cultivate a cultivar in the desired area only when it has already yielded results in experimental cultivations. Fortunately, in many olive-growing regions of the country, various famous foreign and domestic olive cultivars have been planted and evaluated in experimental blocks. But on the other hand, after several years, the gardeners have faced many problems in the orchards that have been planted without paying attention to the appropriate cultivars. Olive is one of the oldest fruit trees and the main source of edible oil in the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Today, with the progress of science and the identification of the nutritional and therapeutic properties of olives and their oil, the tendency to consume them has increased significantly, because olive oil has a high level of oleic acid (one of the healthiest fatty acids) (Sifi, 2008).

According to the statistics of the International Olive Council (2011), Iran's olive oil production is estimated at 6 thousand tons, which is approximately 0.1% of the world's olive oil production. In the same year, Iran produced 45,000 tons of canned olives, only 1.8% of the world's production. Due to the dependence of the country on the import of oilseeds, the development of olive groves has been placed on the agenda of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad. The area of ??fertile olive orchards in the country is 35,000 hectares, but based on studies and considering the climatic conditions, it is expected that at the end of the fifth five-year development plan, 78,000 hectares of new fertile orchards will be added to the area of ??the current orchards (Anonymous, 2012). Undoubtedly, the development of new gardens requires compatible and high-yielding varieties of olives, including oil, canning and dual purpose (oil and canning). In order to implement breeding programs and obtain new cultivars in accordance with the development programs in the olive industry, the most basic method is crossing between genotypes, and in this regard, choosing suitable parents is very important. Flowering and fruit regulation, high fruit and oil yield, production of larger fruits in canned cultivars and a high ratio of flesh to fruit core, especially in oily cultivars, are important breeding objectives in the olive tree breeding program (Davari and Baldoni, 2007). Manifestation of genetic differences of cultivars in the form of wide diversity in terms of flower and fruit quantitative traits causes these traits to be used as one of the general, practical and selective markers for studying genetic diversity, grouping cultivars and selecting appropriate parents for the implementation of targeted breeding programs (Jalili et al., 2016). Grouping cultivars based on a large number of quantitative and qualitative traits can be a reliable method in determining the similarities and distances of kinship or distance of genotypes, so that cultivars with the greatest distance and genetic differentiation in terms of important horticultural traits can be selected and used in breeding programs to create maximum genetic diversity and valuable hybrids. Quantitatively, the farther the parents are from each other, the more diversity will be created in their offspring (Danaei et al., 2013).

Given the fact that the morphological and pomological diversity among olive cultivars is rooted in their genetic diversity, the evaluation of such diversity leads to the identification of valuable clones among numerous olive cultivars. For this purpose, sets of criteria such as tree characteristics (shape and dimensions), structure and size of fruit, shape and size of leaves and core, etc. are used (Hanachi et al., 2008). A list of these characteristics has been prepared and announced by the International Olive Oil Association (IOC[1], 2000).

The main research question

What are the characteristics of the pomological index of the cultivars selected in the Drum region and do these cultivars have a special advantage over the common cultivar of the region (yellow) and can they replace it?

Research objectives

Investigation and identification of the functional traits of different olive varieties and the possibility of replacing them with the yellow variety. Different olive cultivars in terms of absorption of nutritional elements and physiological traits.

Abstract

This study was done in the form of randomized complete block design to investigate the adaptation of four commercial olive varieties i.e.