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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Crop and Product Physiology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpls.2025.1547174
This article is part of the Research Topic Olive Science View all 20 articles

Exploring Drought Tolerance in Wild and Traditional Olive Varieties from the Southern Levant

Provisionally accepted
Basappa Adi Basappa Adi 1,2Arnon Dag Arnon Dag 2Elad Ben-Dor Elad Ben-Dor 3Gilad Gabay Gilad Gabay 1*Oz Barazani Oz Barazani 3*
  • 1 French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer, Israel
  • 2 Gilat Research Center, Agricutural Research Organization, Gilat, Israel
  • 3 Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion, Central District, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Local olive germplasm of the southern Levant includes wild populations of var. sylvestris and local traditional cultivars that are thought to be well-adapted to the region's arid conditions. By controlling water availability, we tested the response of two local traditional cultivars (MLL1 and MLL7) and var. sylvestris to low (100%), moderate (33%), and severe (10%) evapotranspiration (ETa) conditions. Measurements of stomatal conductance, relative water content, stem water potential, and the net photosynthesis showed a stronger response of the Barnea cultivar to reduced ETa conditions in comparison to the other three investigated groups. Additionally, when exposed to 100% ETa, the net photosynthesis capacity of MLL1 was significantly higher than that measured in MLL7. Therefore, net photosynthesis, as an indicator of tree productivity, can explain the dominance of MLL1 (Souri cultivar) in local traditional orchards and the negligible abundance of MLL7 (unknown cultivar) as a fruit-bearing tree. Considering that climate change already influencing on olive cultivation, the results of this study stress the potential of the southern Levant local olive germplasm in maintaining sustainable olive horticulture.

    Keywords: adaptation, Climate Change, drought, Olive, traditional cultivars, Wild olives

    Received: 17 Dec 2024; Accepted: 24 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Adi, Dag, Ben-Dor, Gabay and Barazani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Gilad Gabay, French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer, 849900, Israel
    Oz Barazani, Institute of Plant Sciences, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Rishon LeZion, Central District, Israel

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.