ADVANCES IN THE JOINT UCO-IFAPA OLIVE BREEDING PROGRAM (JOBP)

A joint olive breeding program (JOBP) which includes crosses carried out from 1991 to 2006 is in progress in Córdoba (Spain). The initial protocol of forcing growth to shorten the Juvenile Phase (JP) has been improved. We have also made advances in the establishment of early and simplified selection criteria for earliness of bearing, oil yield, olive oil composition and tree architecture. Three phases in the breeding process have been established: 1) Evaluation of single seedlings for early bearing, fruit size, high oil yield and plant architecture appropriate for mechanical harvesting, 2) Agronomic evaluation of preselections from phase 1 for yield, vigor, oil composition, time of flowering and fruit ripening, susceptibility to Spilocaea oleagina and other defoliating diseases, and other traits in a field experiment with random replications, and 3) Agronomic and oleotechnic evaluation of advanced selections within field trials in different environments. More than 10000 seedlings from 83 crosses are under evaluation in some of the above-mentioned phases among which more than 300 in phase 2 and 33 in phase 3. The new cultivar ‘Sikitita’ (‘Chiquitita’ in USA) was released and protected in 2008, and planted for the first time in commer¬cial orchards in 2009-2011. The most notable results are summarized.