Olive (Olea europaea L.)

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is one of the oldest, most widespread and important crops of the Mediterranean basin. Many different olive genotypes are cultivated and a high degree of morphological and biological variation exists (Rugini and Lavee 1992). Olive cultivation from Mediterranean basin is presently expanding into areas of Australia, South and North America (Argentina, Chile, United States) and South Africa (Rugini and Fedeli 1990). The Mediterranean basin is the traditional area of olive cultivation and has 95% of the olive orchards of the world.