Micropropagation of a local olive cultivar for germplasm preservation

In vitro shoot culture was applied to an Italian local cultivar Nebbiara of olive (Olea europaea L.) to preserve its endangered germplasm. This cultivar showed a notable difficulty for the in vitro establishment due to heavy pathogen contamination. Mercury chloride and sodium hypochloride in the sterilisation step and antibiotics in culture media allowed to overcome the problem. Proliferation of shoot apical bud on olive culture medium with 36 g dm-3 mannitol and 4.56 ?M zeatin appeared very satisfactory. All the explants tested rooted during a subculture (1 month) preceeded by a 5-d long dark pre-treatment.