The Ability of Olive Rhizogenesis in Correlation with Vegetative Growth

The present study was carried out in a three–year period, to investigate olive varieties propagation (Kaninjot, Mixan, Bardhi Tiranes, Kryps Berati, Himara, and Frantoio), by treatment with indol-3 butyric acid (IBA), (IBA2gl¯¹, IBA5gl¯¹ and Control), in the typical vegetation phases: February, May, September and December, with mist-propagation method. After 70 days, the percentage of rooting of studied cultivars varies from 2 to 95%. The two IBA dosages have not affected rooting in the same way within each period. IBA at IBA2gl¯¹ and IBA5gl¯¹, gave high rooting percentages for Kaninjot, UBT and Mixan cultivars, respectively from 67 to 78%; 63 to 70%; and 56 to 77%. Leafage presence has been an important factor. Defoliation has varied between 8.3 and 44.1%. At high cambial activity, the IBA concentration of IBA2gl¯¹, resulted more effective; whereas under conditions of low cambial activity, high IBA concentrations yielded better results. At active vegetation stage the IBA in high concentrations shows inhibitory and toxic effect. The control gave low rooting percentage and with significantly highlighted changes compared to IBA treatments. Cultivars have their highest endogenous rhizogenic capacity in May and September, period which corresponds to the active cambium activity.Keywords: Olive, propagation, nebulization, IBA, culture, mist-propagation

Genetic structure and core collection of olive germplasm from Albania revealed by microsatellite markers

Olive is considered one of the oldest and the most important cultivated fruit trees in Albania. In the present study, the genetic diversity and structure of Albanian olive germplasm is represented by a set of 194 olive genotypes collected in-situ in their natural ecosystems and in the ex-situ collection. The study was conducted using 26 microsatellite markers (14 genomic SSR and 12 Expressed Sequence Tag microsatellites). The identity analysis revealed 183 unique genotypes. Genetic distance-based and model-based Bayesian analyses were used to investigate the genetic diversity, relatedness, and the partitioning of the genetic variability among the Albanian olive germplasm. The genetic distance-based analysis grouped olives into 12 clusters, with an average similarity of 50.9%. Albanian native olives clustered in one main group separated from introduced foreign cultivars, which was also supported by Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) and model-based methods. A core collection of 57 genotypes representing all allelic richness found in Albanian germplasm was developed for the first time. Herein, we report the first extended genetic characterization and structure of olive germplasm in Albania. The findings suggest that Albanian olive germplasm is a unique gene pool and provides an interesting genetic basis for breeding programs