Collection and Varietal Study of Olive : Molecular Characterizqtion of Olive Cultivars Using RAPD

Abstract

Eighteen Loive (Olea europaea L.) cultivars from Spain, Italy and Israel were grown at Phurua, Loei (827 m asl, 17 17' N 101 24' E). They were studied using random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. Twenty random decamer primers were screened : sixteen of these produced 128 reproducible polymorphic amplification fragments. Each of the18 cultivars can be desciminated with a few primers. Results were analysed for a similarity among the cultivars, and an unweighted pair group method cluster analysis was performed. The analysis revealed that the cultivar could be divided into eight groups. The dendrogram showed a good correlation between the banding patterns of olive cutivars and their utilization of fruits. In addition, the correlation between the banding patterns and their geographic origin was obviously.