Abstract

In this present study, we pe rformed a morphological character ization of some olive trees cultivated under irrigated conditi ons in one geographically marginal site (Beni Tajjit) which is localized in the south-western part of the Moroccan Oriental Region. We used morphological traits to assess morphological diversity of thes e olive trees as well as to determine their phenotypic relationships with the main known ol ive Moroccan cultivars. A total of eighteen olive trees (noted from BT 1 to BT 20 ) selected for their apparent morphological differences were analysed by using 23 morphol ogical characters (2 for leaves , 2 for inflorescences, 9 for fruits, and 10 for endocarps) belonging to thos e suggested by the International Olive Oil Council. Results revealed that differences betwee n all studied o live trees were ranged from 1 (so be it 4.3%) as minimum to 9 (so be it 39.1%) as maximum characters. The dendrogram resulting from the UPGMA method based on morphological characters and using Squared Euclidean distance revealed five major groups of olive trees according to their aggregation distance values which were 1; 1.35; 1.7 and 5.9. Be tween these five groups as well inside of every group, differences intere sted both the number and the category of character traits. Otherwise, the 18 studied olive trees showed 2 to 16 morphologi cal traits as difference with the most cultivated Moroccan olive varieties Picholine marocaine , Menara , Haouzia , Meslala , Dahbia, and Bouchouika . Results point clearly that the genetic diversity in Moroccan olive material could be much hi gher than what was assessed previously.