Morphological and histological characteristics related with phase change (juvenile/adult) in olive leaves and its determination by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy.

摘要

The usefulness of morphological and histological characteristics to differentiate between juvenile and adult olive leaves and its determination by near infrared reflectance spectroscopy have been evaluated in this work. Twenty adult and twenty juvenile olive seedlings originating from crosses 'Arbequina' x 'Arbosana', 'Arbequina' open pollination, and 'Manzanilla' open pollination were randomly chosen from progenies of the olive breeding program of Cordoba, Spain. Twenty five fully expanded leaves collected from five randomly chosen branches per tree were used for morphological (10), histological (10), and spectroscopic (5) studies. A wide range of variability was obtained for all morphological and histological characteristics measured and significant differences between juvenile and adult samples were observed for most of them. Calibration models developed with partial least squares regression using the whole spectral range (400-2498 nm) allowed the determination of morphological (moisture, specific weight) and histological (thickness of leaves and their different component tissues) characteristics. These characteristics could therefore be useful as early selection criteria in olive breeding programs.