scholarly journals Shape Diversity of Olive Stone, Resulting from Domestication and Diversification, Unveils Traits of the Oldest Known, 7000-Years-Old Table Olives from Hishuley Carmel Site (Israel)

Agronomy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 2187
Author(s):  
Jean-Frédéric Terral ◽  
Vincent Bonhomme ◽  
Clémence Pagnoux ◽  
Sarah Ivorra ◽  
Claire Newton ◽  
...  

The first exploited and domesticated olive forms are still unknown. The exceptionally well-preserved stones from the submerged Hishuley Carmel site (Israel), dating from the middle of the 7th millennium BP, offer us the opportunity to study the oldest table olives discovered so far. We apply a geometrical morphometric analysis in reference to a collection of modern stones from supposed wild populations and traditional varieties of various origins, genetic lineages and uses. Analyses carried out on modern material allow to characterize the extent of stone morphological variation in the olive tree and differentiate distinct morphotypes. They also allow to discuss the status of supposed wild populations and interpret the divergence between groups of varieties and their wild progenitors in an evolutionary and biogeographical perspective. Shape of archaeological stones compared to the differentiation model, unveils morphological traits of olives most likely belonging to both wild olive trees and domesticated forms, some of them showing a notable domestication syndrome. This forms at the early stages of domestications, some of which surprisingly morphologically close to modern varieties, were probably used for dual use (production of olive oil and table olives), and possibly contributed to the dispersion of the olive tree throughout the Mediterranean Basin and to its subsequent diversification.

Foods ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 1299
Author(s):  
Pablo Doménech ◽  
Aleta Duque ◽  
Isabel Higueras ◽  
José Luis Fernández ◽  
Paloma Manzanares

Olive trees constitute one of the largest agroindustries in the Mediterranean area, and their cultivation generates a diverse pool of biomass by-products such as olive tree pruning (OTP), olive leaves (OL), olive stone (OS), and extracted olive pomace (EOP). These lignocellulosic materials have varying compositions and potential utilization strategies within a biorefinery context. The aim of this work was to carry out an integral analysis of the aqueous extractives fraction of these biomasses. Several analytical methods were applied in order to fully characterize this fraction to varying extents: a mass closure of >80% was reached for EOP, >76% for OTP, >65% for OS, and >52% for OL. Among the compounds detected, xylooligosaccharides, mannitol, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylglycol, and hydroxytyrosol were noted as potential enhancers of the valorization of said by-products. The extraction of these compounds is expected to be more favorable for OTP, OL, and EOP, given their high extractives content, and is compatible with other utilization strategies such as the bioconversion of the lignocellulosic fraction into biofuels and bioproducts.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1304
Author(s):  
Francisco Espínola ◽  
Alfonso M. Vidal ◽  
Juan M. Espínola ◽  
Manuel Moya

Wild olive trees have important potential, but, to date, the oil from wild olives has not been studied significantly, especially from an analytical point of view. In Spain, the wild olive tree is called “Acebuche” and its fruit “Acebuchina”. The objective of this work is to optimize the olive oil production process from the Acebuchina cultivar and characterize the oil, which could be marketed as healthy and functional food. A Box–Behnken experimental design with five central points was used, along with the Response Surface Methodology to obtain a mathematical experimental model. The oils from the Acebuchina cultivar meet the requirements for human consumption and have a good balance of fatty acids. In addition, the oils are rich in antioxidants and volatile compounds. The highest extraction yield, 12.0 g oil/100 g paste, was obtained at 90.0 min and the highest yield of phenolic compounds, 870.0 mg/kg, was achieved at 40.0 °C, and 90.0 min; but the maximum content of volatile compounds, 26.9 mg/kg, was obtained at 20 °C and 30.0 min. The oil yield is lower than that of commercial cultivars, but the contents of volatile and phenolic compounds is higher.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bouchaib Khadari ◽  
Ahmed El Bakkali

Knowledge on the crop domestication process is important from a cultural and agricultural standpoint since it can shed light on the origin and history of human civilizations as well as the management of genetic resources, while offering guidance for modern breeding. The olive tree (Olea europaeassp.europaea) is the most iconic of the old crop species of the Mediterranean Basin (MB). Primary domestication from wild olive probably occurred around 6000 BP in the Middle East. However, the question remains as to whether cultivated olive derived from a single domestication event in the Levant, followed by secondary diversification, or whether it was the result of independent domestication events. Here, we analyzed a comprehensive sample collected from 35 wild populations (722 individuals) and 410 cultivars from across the MB using nuclear and plastid DNA markers. Our genetic investigations argue in favor of a single primary domestication event in the eastern MB, followed by diffusion of the first domesticated olive and diversification in the central and western MB as key processes in the olive tree history.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdullah Saleh Al-Ghamdi

This study provided detailed information on the attributes of wild olive species in the Al- Baha region, Saudi Arabia. The study area lay along the Sarah mountain, encompassing the districts of Al-Qura, Al-Mandaq, Al- Baha and the southern part of Baljurashi. This indicates the preference of wild olive for high foggy mountain conditions, which was pre-determined by the study to be a medium-high vegetation density zone. Information extracted from high resolution satellite imagery Pleaides revealed that there are 717,894 wild olive trees (360 trees per km2) in the study area, covering 1,991 km2 .The districts of Al-Mandaq and Al-Baha have higher wild olive density with younger and highly clustered trees, whereas Al-Qura and Baljurashi districts have lower wild olive density, with medium clustered older trees. The districts of Al-Aqiq, Qelwa and Mekhwa have the least density of wild olive with younger trees and light clustering. Clustering behavior was enumerated directly at the sampling plots and the results depicted that the majority of wild olives occur in clusters with mostly 5-10 trees per cluster. The olive tree is found naturally in Al-Baha and can reportedly maintain its populations in natural old growth forests for several hundred years. This study identified the age of wild olive trees in the study area. The results indicated that there were more (68%) of young age class (<50 years old) of wild olive trees, whereas Baljurashi showed the highest percentage of old age class (>150 years). The majority (88.6%) of the wild olive trees were healthy, while more unhealthy trees were observed in Al-Mandaq and Al-Baha districts. As observed during the groundwork, unhealthy trees particularly due to dieback, were more discerned with juniper affecting vegetation in Al-Mandaq and South Baha, with 45% and 18% respectively. Similarly, this study recorded trace of unhealthy vegetation, with 11.4% of the wild olive trees in an unhealthy condition. This information would be essential in ‘Identifying the Landscape Preference of Wild Olive in Al-Baha Region Saudi Arabia’.  


2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-135
Author(s):  
Mohamed Chliyeh ◽  
Amina Ouazzani Touhami ◽  
Abdelkarim Filali-Maltouf ◽  
Cherkaoui El Modafar ◽  
Abdelmajid Moukhli ◽  
...  

In spring of 2012, olive-trees with crown dieback, root rot and defoliation were observed in two years old olive tree in commercial plantations of tree nurseries in Sidi Taibi and in twenty to fifty years old field trees in Souk El Arbaa olive crops in Northwest of Morocco (Gharb area). The objective of this study was to isolate the responsible pathogen of the observed symptoms to the olive trees, to demonstrate its pathogenicity and fulfill the Koch´s postulate. Phytophthora palmivora was consistently isolated from roots (56%) and stems (73.6%) of the young olive trees and 85% from stems of field trees. Koch’s postulate was completed using two isolates of Phytophthora palmivora on 2-year old plants of Dahbia and Haouzia varieties grafted onto wild olive-trees. The affected branches percentages (Pab%) of the inoculated olive plants with the isolate 1 were higher (81.8% for Dahbia and 68% for Haouzia) than those what were inoculated with the isolate 2 (43% for Dahbia and 32% for Haouzia). The reisolation percentages (Pr%) of isolate 1 (84%) and isolate 2 (76%) in the roots of Dahbia variety were higher than isolate 1 (48%) and isolate 2 (55%) in roots of Haouzia variety. The reisolation percentage of isolate 1 in the stem of Dahbia (64%) was higher than that in the stem of Haouzia (41.33%). No significant difference was observed between the Reisolation percentages of isolate 2 in stem of Dahbia olive plants (38%) and in stem of Haouzia olive plants (33%). The pathogenicity of P. palmivora was demonstrated in the olive plants and this was the first report of this pathogen in Moroccan olive trees.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Babcox

Every Olive Tree in the Garden of Gethsemane is a suite of photographic images of each of the twenty-three olive trees in the garden. Situated at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the Garden of Gethsemane is known to many as the site where Jesus and his disciples prayed the night before his crucifixion. The oldest trees in the garden date to 1092 and are recognized as some of the oldest olive trees in existence. The older trees are a living and symbolic connection to the distant past, while younger trees serve as a link to the future. The gnarled trunks seem written with the many conflicts that have been waged in an effort to control this most-contested city; a city constantly on the threshold of radical transformation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Aniţa ◽  
Vincenzo Capasso ◽  
Simone Scacchi

AbstractIn a recent paper by one of the authors and collaborators, motivated by the Olive Quick Decline Syndrome (OQDS) outbreak, which has been ongoing in Southern Italy since 2013, a simple epidemiological model describing this epidemic was presented. Beside the bacterium Xylella fastidiosa, the main players considered in the model are its insect vectors, Philaenus spumarius, and the host plants (olive trees and weeds) of the insects and of the bacterium. The model was based on a system of ordinary differential equations, the analysis of which provided interesting results about possible equilibria of the epidemic system and guidelines for its numerical simulations. Although the model presented there was mathematically rather simplified, its analysis has highlighted threshold parameters that could be the target of control strategies within an integrated pest management framework, not requiring the removal of the productive resource represented by the olive trees. Indeed, numerical simulations support the outcomes of the mathematical analysis, according to which the removal of a suitable amount of weed biomass (reservoir of Xylella fastidiosa) from olive orchards and surrounding areas resulted in the most efficient strategy to control the spread of the OQDS. In addition, as expected, the adoption of more resistant olive tree cultivars has been shown to be a good strategy, though less cost-effective, in controlling the pathogen. In this paper for a more realistic description and a clearer interpretation of the proposed control measures, a spatial structure of the epidemic system has been included, but, in order to keep mathematical technicalities to a minimum, only two players have been described in a dynamical way, trees and insects, while the weed biomass is taken to be a given quantity. The control measures have been introduced only on a subregion of the whole habitat, in order to contain costs of intervention. We show that such a practice can lead to the eradication of an epidemic outbreak. Numerical simulations confirm both the results of the previous paper and the theoretical results of the model with a spatial structure, though subject to regional control only.


Plant Disease ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 81 (10) ◽  
pp. 1216-1216 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. Sánchez-Hernández ◽  
A. Ruiz-Dávila ◽  
A. Trapero-Casas

Several species of the genus Phytophthora are associated with root rot and trunk cankers in olive trees (Olea europaea L.). Among them, Phytophthora megasperma has been cited as being associated with olive root rots in Greece (1). Unidentified species of Pythium and Phytophthora have also been associated with olive tree root rots in the United States. However, the status of P. megasperma and Pythium spp. as olive tree root pathogens has remained unclear. Following a 5-year period of severe drought in southern Spain, autumn-winter rainfall rates in 1996 to 1997 steadily increased in both quantity and frequency. Under these unusually wet conditions, olive trees remained waterlogged for several months. During this period, we observed foliar wilting, dieback, and death of young trees, and later found extensive root necrosis. In 46 of 49 affected plantations surveyed, P. megasperma was consistently isolated from the rotted rootlets, particularly in young (<1- to 10-year-old trees) plantations. This fungus was not detected on plant material affected by damping-off from several Spanish olive tree nurseries. The opposite situation occurred with P. irregulare. This species was not associated with rotted rootlets in the field. In contrast, it was consistently isolated from necrotic rootlets from young olive plants affected by damping-off. These plants were grown in a sand-lime-peat soil mixture under greenhouse conditions and showed foliar wilting and extensive necrosis of the root systems. Pathogenicity tests were conducted with several isolates of P. megasperma and P. irregulare on 6-month-old rooted cuttings of olive, under both weekly watering and waterlogged conditions. Under waterlogged conditions, both fungal species produced extensive root necrosis 2 weeks after inoculation that resulted in wilting of the aerial parts and rapid plant death. Waterlogged control plants remained without foliar symptoms but a low degree of root necrosis was recorded. In addition, under weekly watering conditions, plants inoculated with either species showed some degree of root rot but foliar symptoms were not evident. No differences in pathogenicity were observed within the Phytophthora or Pythium isolates. Reference: (1) H. Kouyeas and A. Chitzanidis. Ann. Inst. Phytopathol. Benaki 8:175, 1968.


1985 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 93-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Hill

The ruins at Yanıkhan form the remains of a Late Roman village in the interior of Rough Cilicia some 8 kilometres inland from the village of Limonlu on the road to Canbazlı (see Fig. 1). The site has not been frequently visited by scholars, and the first certain reference to its existence was made by the late Professor Michael Gough after his visit on 2 September 1959. Yanıkhan is now occupied only by the Yürüks who for years have wintered on the southern slopes of Sandal Dağ. The ancient settlement at Yanıkhan consisted of a village covering several acres. The remains are still extensive, and some, especially the North Basilica, are very well preserved, but there has been considerable disturbance in recent years as stone and rubble have been removed in order to create small arable clearings. The visible remains include many domestic buildings constructed both from polygonal masonry without mortar and from mortar and rubble with coursed smallstone facing. There are several underground cisterns and a range of olive presses. The countryside around the settlement has been terraced for agricultural purposes in antiquity, and is, like the settlement itself, densely covered with scrub oak and wild olive trees. The most impressive remains are those of the two basilical churches which are of little artistic pretension, but considerable architectural interest. The inscription which forms the substance of this article was found on the lintel block of the main west entrance of the South Basilica.


2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (5) ◽  
pp. 711-720 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Blázquez ◽  
A. Ronda ◽  
M. A. Martín-Lara ◽  
A. Pérez ◽  
M. Calero

Batch isotherm studies were carried out on a laboratory scale: (i) to investigate the effectiveness to remove lead of two wastes (olive stone (OS) and olive tree pruning (OTP)), untreated and chemically treated; and (ii) to examine the applicability of various adsorption isotherms to fit the experimental data. Results from tests were analyzed using seven equilibrium isotherm correlations (Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin–Radushkevich, Temkin, Redlich–Peterson, Sips, and Toth equations). The sum of the squares of the errors was determined for each isotherm and the Langmuir equation provided the best fit. Chemical treatments increased the biosorption properties of these materials. The maximum biosorption capacities were: 6.33, 49.13, 14.83, and 38.93 mg g−1 for untreated OS, HNO3-OS, H2SO4-OS, and NaOH-OS, respectively, and 26.72, 86.40, 72.78, and 123.80 mg g−1 for untreated OTP, HNO3-OTP, H2SO4-OTP, and NaOH-OTP, respectively. Finally, the loss of mass for each waste (13.9, 14.3, and 36.8% for HNO3-OS, H2SO4-OS, and NaOH-OS and 35.1, 27.5, and 46.7% for HNO3-OTP, H2SO4-OTP, and NaOH-OTP, respectively) was taken into account and an effectiveness coefficient was determined for each adsorbent material.


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