OLIVE GERMPLASM – THE OLIVE CULTIVATION, TABLE OLIVE AND OLIVE OIL INDUSTRY IN ITALY pdf

OLIVE GERMPLASM –

THE OLIVE CULTIVATION,

TABLE OLIVE AND OLIVE

OIL INDUSTRY IN ITALY

Edited by Innocenzo Muzzalupo

Olive Germplasm –

The Olive Cultivation, Table Olive and Olive Oil Industry in Italy

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/3314

Edited by Innocenzo Muzzalupo

Contributors

Catherine Marie Breton, Peter Warnock, André Jean Bervillé, Adriana Chiappetta, Innocenzo

Muzzalupo, Caterina Briccoli Bati, Elena Santilli, Ilaria Guagliardi, Pietro Toscano, Adolfo Rosati,

Silvia Caporali, Andrea Paoletti, Nino Iannotta, Stefano Scalercio, Giuliana Albanese, Maria

Saponari, Francesco Faggioli, Rosario Muleo, Michele Morgante, Riccardo Velasco, Andrea

Cavallini, Gaetano Perrotta, Luciana Baldoni, Maurizio Servili, Agnese Taticchi, Sonia Esposto,

Beatrice Sordini, Stefania Urbani, Pietro Toscano, Francesco Montemurro, Amalia Piscopo,

Marco Poiana, Massimiliano Pellegrino, Enzo Perri, Giovanni Sindona, Domenico Taverna, Enzo

Perri, Cinzia Benincasa, Domenico Britti, Daniela Impellizzeri, Antonio Procopio, Salvatore

Cuzzocrea, Flora Valeria Romeo, Barbara Lanza

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Olive Germplasm – The Olive Cultivation, Table Olive and Olive Oil Industry in Italy,

Edited by Innocenzo Muzzalupo

p. cm.

ISBN 978-953-51-0883-2

Contents

Preface IX

Section 1 Olive Germplasm 1

Chapter 1 Origin and History of the Olive 3

Catherine Marie Breton, Peter Warnock and André Jean Bervillé

Chapter 2 Botanical Description 23

Adriana Chiappetta and Innocenzo Muzzalupo

Chapter 3 Cultivation Techniques 39

Caterina Briccoli Bati, Elena Santilli,

Ilaria Guagliardi and Pietro Toscano

Chapter 4 Floral Biology:

Implications for Fruit Characteristics and Yield 71

Adolfo Rosati, Silvia Caporali and Andrea Paoletti

Chapter 5 Susceptibility of Cultivars to Biotic Stresses 81

Nino Iannotta and Stefano Scalercio

Chapter 6 Phytosanitary Certification 107

Giuliana Albanese, Maria Saponari and Francesco Faggioli

Chapter 7 Olive Tree Genomic 133

Rosario Muleo, Michele Morgante, Riccardo Velasco,

Andrea Cavallini, Gaetano Perrotta and Luciana Baldoni

Section 2 Virgin Olive Oil 149

Chapter 8 Technological Aspects of Olive Oil Production 151

Maurizio Servili, Agnese Taticchi, Sonia Esposto,

Beatrice Sordini and Stefania Urbani

Chapter 9 Olive Mill By-Products Management 173

Pietro Toscano and Francesco Montemurro

VI Contents

Chapter 10 Packaging and Storage of Olive Oil 201

Amalia Piscopo and Marco Poiana

Chapter 11 Sensory Analysis of Virgin Olive Oils 223

Innocenzo Muzzalupo, Massimiliano Pellegrino and Enzo Perri

Chapter 12 Modern Methodologies to Assess the Olive Oil Quality 239

Giovanni Sindona and Domenico Taverna

Chapter 13 Olive Oil Traceability 265

Enzo Perri, Cinzia Benincasa and Innocenzo Muzzalupo

Chapter 14 Oleuropein an Olive Oil Compound in Acute and Chronic

Inflammation Models: Facts and Perspectives 287

Domenico Britti, Daniela Impellizzeri,

Antonio Procopio and Salvatore Cuzzocrea

Section 3 Table Olive 319

Chapter 15 Microbiological Aspects of Table Olives 321

Flora Valeria Romeo

Chapter 16 Nutritional and Sensory Quality of Table Olives 343

Barbara Lanza

Preface

Among cultivated plants, the olive (Olea europaea L.) is the sixth most important oil

crop in the world, presently spreading from the Mediterranean region of origin to new

production areas, due to the beneficial nutritional properties of olive oil and to its high

economic value. Olive oil has favourable nutritional properties, and consequently, its

consumption, which was traditionally restricted to the Mediterranean area (77% of the

world production area), is increasing worldwide (mainly the United States, Canada,

Australia and Japan). Some olive varieties are cultivated specifically for table

consumption, but the majority are used for oil extraction. Based on estimates by the

FAO 2010, Plant Production and Protection Division Olive Germplasm, the world’s

olive germplasm contains more than 2,629 different varieties, with many local varieties

and ecotypes contributing to this wealth.

Olive growing in Italy is very important, but there is still a high degree of confusion

regarding the genetic identity of olive cultivars. The problem of characterizing the

olive tree germplasm is complicated not only by the wealth of its genetic patrimony,

but also by the absence of reference standards and a well defined system of

nomenclature that is free from homonymy and synonymy. Only recently, some Italian

research projects (i.e. COLLEZIONI; CERTOLIO; GERMOLI; OLEA; OLVIVA; RGV￾FAO and RIOM projects) have raised the issue of the “standard reference variety” are

trying to achieve a “standard certificate” for each variety present in different Italian

regions. The extent of this diversity has important implications for both the adaptation

of varieties to their local environment and for the optimization of the agronomical

performance of these varieties under a given set of environmental conditions. For

example, every initiative promoting olive cultivation should consider the potential

repercussions of such action on any local olive varieties. Every region should preserve

its own plant material in order to safeguard both the adaptation and productivity of

the species and the unique characteristics of the region’s olive oil. However, the study

of intra-varietal polymorphisms is important since they may have traits that, although

not considered important in the past, might be important to meet the challenges of

modern olive growing (i.e. resistance to low temperatures, salinity tolerance, etc.).

The systematic collection of Italian olive varieties for deposit into specific catalogue

fields began in Italy in the 1980s. A similar international collection was started in 1997

by the Consiglio per la Ricerca e la sperimentazione in Agricoltura – centro di ricerca

X Preface

per l’OLIvicoltura e l’industria olearia (Agricultural Research Council - Agricultural

Research Council - Olive Growing and Oil Industry Research Centre, CRA-OLI) in

Italy. Collection entailed the following steps: a survey of the territory, individuation,

basic characterization, and introduction into the germplasm field. To date, roughly 500

varieties have been introduced into the CRA-OLI collection, and this list has been

published (web site http://apps3.fao.org/wiews/olive/olcoll2.jsp).

A useful olive germplasm collection also requires an organizational system devoid of

homonymy, synonymy and mislabeling so that a reliable classification of all varieties

can be achieved without unnecessary confusion. Recent research has focused on using

morphological, bio-agronomical and molecular markers to characterize and identify

olive varieties. The identification of varieties by using molecular markers is a crucial

aim of modern horticulture, because such a technique would greatly facilitate breeding

programmers and germplasm collection management.

The book "Olive Germplasm" was born from the idea of gathering and evaluating

research results obtained on the growing of olive trees in the CRA-OLI collection field.

In fact, after more than 20 years from the planting of the olive trees in the collection

field, a quantity of validated data was obtained which was considered to be sufficient

for the realization of this work which contains the results of innovative research on its

main products such as olive oil and table olives.

The book is divided into two parts: I) the olive cultivation, table olive and olive oil industry

in Italy and II) Italian catalogue of olive varieties.

This book highlights the importance of studying the distribution, characterization and

valorization of genetic diversity for better exploitation of olive resources and for the

design of breeding programs. In addition, it reports some important aspects about the

current state of the art in the chemistry, analysis and quality assessment of table olives

and of olive oil and its minor constituents, extraction of olive oil from the fruits, water

treatment, and innovative approaches for the production of olive oil based products. It

also discusses bioavailability, pharmacological and other properties of bioactive

ingredients in the light of new evidence on the composition of olive oil and table

olives. Furthermore, it addresses some aspects related to biotechnology and other

technologies to retain optimum levels of such bioactive ingredients in the various olive

oil forms and to protect the environment from olive mill waste products.

The purpose of this book is to provide a glimpse into the table olive and olive oil

industry by presenting the thoughts of some of the scientists who are engaged in the

development of new tools and ideas used to improve the quality of products, often

from very different perspectives.

I hope and trust that the information in this report will be used as the basis for policy

and technical decisions to strengthen national efforts to conserve and utilize the

treasures incorporated in the world’s plant genetic resources to address the urgent

problems faced by agriculture today and tomorrow.

Preface XI

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the authors who contributed to this

book by sharing their valuable works with us. A special thanks to the reviewers who

have used their valuable time in the improvement of the chapters. Finally, thanks to

the publishing house that provided me with great professionalism in the realization of

the book.

Innocenzo Muzzalupo

Agricultural Research Council -

Olive Growing and Oil Industry Research Centre, Rende (CS),

Italy

Section 1

Olive Germplasm

Chapter 1

© 2012 Breton et al., licensee InTech. This is an open access chapter distributed under the terms of the

Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits

unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Origin and History of the Olive

Catherine Marie Breton, Peter Warnock and André Jean Bervillé

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/51933

1. Introduction

To begin, the methodology followed to reconstruct the origin and history of the olive is

presented. The genetic structure (density of alleles across the geographic distribution of

individuals) based on allele frequencies of the present oleaster tree in the Mediterranean

Basin computed with different methods of comparison with the genetic structure of

cultivars grouped based on their geographic and genetic origins infers several possible

scenarios for the transition from the oleaster to the olive. To screen among the scenarios

requires solid dating in oleaster presence, diffusion and physical remains (from oleaster and

cultivar trees) from different sites. Consequently, reconstructing the origin of the olive is

based upon data from diverse disciplines and integrating them appears fruitful. Genetic

data show that an event (such as bottleneck, migration, differentiation, adaptation) has

occurred, but it cannot be dated. Thus it requires crossing genetic data with data gathered

from different biological disciplines to make a strong case for this history. We examine

successively:

1. The present distribution of the olive and its counterpart the wild olive,

2. Archaeological records of wood charcoals and artifact remains, ethno-botanical

methods, pollen databases, and chemical methods for oil traces;

3. Molecular data obtained through 1995 to the present from Olea europaea and including

relationships between varieties. We examined successively the evolution of methods to

analyze data, the data sets examined through Bayesian methods, and the relationships

between the oleaster and the olive in order to propose a wide scenario.

This article does not attempt to review all relevant literature on the history or background of

the research, but rather focuses on the history of the olive tree and infers some shortcuts in

the references of the work published. We apologize and readers can refer to recent general

publications that fill the gap here [1, 2, 3, 4].