8th International Olive Symposium

As part of the Rural Development Programme for 2007-2013, the importance of protecting, characterizing and identifying the autochthonous olive germplasm of the Apulia Region was examined through the subaction "Integrated projects for biodiversity". The main objective of the Re.Ger.O.P. (Recupero del germoplasma olivicolo pugliese) project was to effectively study and recover olive germplasm through an integrated multidisciplinary approach for the exploitation of regional agro-biodiversity. Here, we report the results of the molecular characterization of 30 rare autochthonous Apulian olive genotypes. A phylogenetic analysis was performed with the aim of comparing these new genotypes with 26 cultivars widespread in Italy and previously analysed, to verify their correct denomination. The genetic variability of the Apulian dataset was shown to be very high