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.