Olive in changing climate

Soraya Mousavi 
IBBR - UOS Perugia - Italy

November 18, 2020 (11:30-12:30)
Webinar Link: https://global.gotomeeting.com/join/527502861

Abstract: Cultivated olive (Olea europaea L. subsp. europaea var. europaea), covering more than eight million hectares, is one of the main perennial oil crops worldwide. Traditionally cultivated in the Mediterranean area, olive is now experiencing a great expansion to new and different areas of south Asia, Oceania, South Africa and the Americas. In the Mediterranean, considered particularly sensitive to global climate change, olive cultivation is going to face the challenges posed by the new climate scenarios. In this context, knowledge about the plant reaction to different environmental constraints represents a relevant support for defining new cultivation strategies. In this context, the olive research group of IBBR Perugia has undertaken an extensive research aimed at evaluating the genetic potential of this species in terms of tolerance to drought and salt stresses, modification of fruit metabolic composition, with particular reference to lipid and phenolic compounds and plant response to increasing winter temperatures in terms of flowering and geographical distribution of inter-incompatible varieties. On this regard, we report here the main results obtained in identifying QTLs involved in environmental stress tolerance, developing molecular tools for markers assisted selection, discovering candidate genes and epialleles involved in abiotic stress tolerance and fatty acid synthesis under different environmental conditions, selecting most promising stress tolerant cultivars and microbial consortia to provide new tools supporting sustainable cultivation of olive trees

Author's Info: https://ibbr.cnr.it/ibbr/info/people/soraya-mousavi

Link to video: https://youtu.be/vpqXZ5RDJzo