Caratterizzazione ed identificazione genetica di alcune cultivar di olivo presenti nei Colli Euganei

AFLP (Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism) analysis has been used to study the genetic diversity of some olive (Olea europaea L.) trees present in the Colli Euganei area, located in the Northern limit for olive cultivation in Italy. The genetic identification of autochthonous plants diffused in this area is difficult and, up to now, few genotypes have been distinguished by comparing morphological characters and some physiological behaviours. The AFLP analysis has been performed on DNA samples collected from 20 trees selected among four of these ecotypes. The dendrogram clearly shows two main distinct groups: one group includes all the genotypes empirically defined as Rasara, which show similar morphological characters, and the Marzamina ecotype. The second cluster contains the other two genotypes (Matosso and unnamed), distinguished between them at similarity level of about 0.60.