PHENOTYPIC CHARACTERIZATION OF HYBRID OLIVE (Olea europaea. L) FROM THE LOCAL  VARIETY 'CHEMLALI SFAX "

I GUELLAOUI; f BEN AMAR; M BOUBAKER; A YENGUI

I GUELLAOUI Univérsité de Souss Institut Supérieur Agronomique de Chott Mariem, école doctorale, Sousse 4042, Tunisie.
f BEN AMAR Institut de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur agricole, Institut de l’Olivier, laboratoire amélioration et protection des ressources génétiques de l’olivier, Sfax 3001, Tunisie..
M BOUBAKER Univérsité de Sousse, Institut Supérieur Agronomique de Chott Mariem, département agronomique, Sousse 4042, Tunisie
A YENGUI nstitut de la recherche et de l’enseignement supérieur agricole, Institut de l’Olivier, laboratoire amélioration et protection des ressources génétiques de l’olivier, Sfax 3001, Tunisie

Keywords: Olive variety collection, soil coverage, shoots elongation, canopy volume, ecartype, correlation

Abstract

The Tunisian olive grove is very rich in varieties and local ecotypes but itis dominated by two oil varieties, Chétoui in the North and Chemlali Sfax in the center and inthe South. Chemlali Sfax is highly productive and well adapted to the arid conditions. However, its oil contains high level of palmitic acid and relatively low level of oleic acid. Our work is to characterize new genetic resources of the olive tree in the biotope of Sfax on morphological and agronomic plans. 12 hybrids issued from the crossing between Chemlali Sfax and other Tunisian and foreign varieties where every hybrid is represented by a single tree are planted in the Olive Tree Institute headquarter in Sfax since 1997. The quantitative characters show an important variability. The correlative analysis shows a dependence of the production and the number offruits by shoot with the characters of the shoot and the fruit. The analysis of hierarchical classification showed the hybrid subdivision into three homogeneous groups. The projection of hybrids on the two principal components showed that certain hybrids are different according to the characters of the fruit, the stone and the shoot. This crossing generated a wide variability and the obtained results will establish a useful database in the case of a procedure of registration of one of these plant varieties.