Inventory of olive tree collections in Tunisia

摘要

The Tunisian olive heritage, where two oil cultivars have always prevailed, is rather rich and includes a tremendous number of varieties. Through the years, some interesting varieties have been preserved in several collections established throughoutthe country. As a first step and in order to take advantage of such material, the collections have been inventoried (i.e. the number of collections, their location, the number of trees, the number of varieties, their origin, the date of finding, the collection state, etc.). The investigation indicated that: there is an important number of collections, rich in varieties, for which maintenance and the exploitation of the available diversity is lacking, and most of the collections are cultivated as orchards for fruit production and by-products. The important number of collections and their distribution over a wide range of growing conditions are major reasons for promoting the protection and preservation of the genetic stock to ensure the durability of the olive-oil sector and to save its yield potential, resistance and adaptation. To achieve this goal, three collections as national conservation centres are suggested. These centres will be managed by research institutes able to ensure the durability ofthe genetic variability of olive tree collections.