IMPROVEMENT OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TIRANA’S BLACK OLIVE THROUGH THE CLONE SELECTION

The olive is among the oldest cultivated trees in the world, olive cultivation is associated with several countries of the Mediterranean See basin and plays an important role in the diets economies and cultures of the region. There are different region in Albania that are suitable for olive cultivation in our country. The olive growing is very ancient in Tirana district and constitutes an important sector of economy. Black of Tirana olive cultivar has originated from Tirana district and occupies about 30% of variety structure. This cultivar has mean oil content and is destined for olive oil industry; its fruit is with average weight. The present study has the objective the selection of “individual trees” with features of high production constant, oil production, and a heavy average fruit weight. The base method for realizing of this study was Classical method of “clone” selection which was applied in two stages: The first stage: General Selection was carried out by evaluation of blossom flowers and bearing fruits index on a population of 255 olive trees every year for a period of 5 consecutive years. The Second stage, “Clone candidates” resulting from general selection (first stage) were evaluated individually every year for: production kg / tree / year, the oil content as % of fresh matter, average fruit weight (g). Periodicity of production was analyzed through Dobersek-Urbane method, based on the final output data. The results had shown that the “clone candidates” indicated difference in “production constant” PC against the average of the population. Six individual trees have had “production constant” between (PC 0.00 to 0.30). Fruit weight variability was from 0.10 to 0.51g more than the standard, which include 17 individual trees. Six individual trees were selected with the highest percentage of oil, that had differences more than 0.2 to 2.3% . The final assessment resulted in: 12 clones with superior PC, 6 clones possess PC + Superior OP, 4 clones possess three features selection (PC + FW + OP)