Proceedings of the XLVII Italian Society of Agricultural Genetics - SIGA Annual Congress

Verona, Italy - 24/27 September, 2003

ISBN 88-900622-4-X

Poster Abstract - 2.18

RESEARCH OF SYNONYMS AND HOMONYMS OF OLIVE CULTIVAR SPREAD IN DPO AREAS THROUGH AFLP

O. AMBROSINO*, M. MANZO**, G. PUGLIANO***, L. MONTI*, R. RAO*

*) Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Facoltà di Agraria, Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo della Pianta e dell’Ambiente sez. Genetica Vegetale

**) Regione Campania - Se.S.I.R.C.A.

***) Università di Napoli “Federico II”, Facoltà di Agraria, Dipartimento di Arboricoltura, Botanica e Patologia Vegetale, sez. Arboricoltura.

AFLP marker synonymies homonymies

The number of the olive varieties, in Campania region, can’t be determined with precision. Most of them have been designated by farmers with local and dialectal names. It has been frequently assigned the same name to different cultivars or the same cultivar has been designated with different names. In arboreous species, this confusion is enphasized by insufficient morphological classification of cultivars due to complexity and long lasting of evaluation and requiring great experience. Moreover the environmental factors may strongly influence the phenotype. Therefore there is a great need for the development of new technologies that contribute to correct variety classification and provide rapid methods of early identification of plants diffused in Denomination Protected of Origin (DPO) areas or multiplied in nurseries.

Most of the varieties of the present study, belong to the list of cultivars included in the disciplinary of production of DPO “extra virgin olive oil” named "Colline Beneventane”, "Colline Casertane" and "Sannio Caudino-Telesino". They were certified for absence of viral infections and described by morphological descriptors. However several plants labelled as DPO varieties but requiring a more detailed classification are present in these areas. Here we report the AFLP analyses of these plants carried aut in an attempt to clarify the not sufficient morphological descriptions.

Four combinations of primers were used. The cluster analysis evidenced cases of synonymies and homonymies clarifing that Rotondella di Sanza do differ from other plants labelled as Rotondella. The varieties known as Ravece and Ortice (5 plants analysed) are all synonyms (mean similarity value: 0,99), therefore these varieties should all be enclosed in one group that should be given a new name but in respect to historical traditions here we indicated as “Ravece-Ortice”. Our data confirmed that AFLP markers are effective for variety identification and are able to distinguish synonymies and homonymies in olive