Oleiculture in progress

Abstract

The present work evaluates the limits and possibilities of development with regard to the most recent olive-growing techniques in light of up-to-date knowledge of species characteristics. After a brief introduction regarding the productive capacity of olive, the new taxonomic position of the cultivated species and a reorganization of the genus Olea is presented in the first part of the work. Examination follows of the assumed stages of domestication, spread (from the Bronze Age until decline in the 6-10th centuries A.D.) and then globalization of the species from the 19th century until the present. The second part addresses the spread of olive to the different continents, environmental limitations to its cultivation and the growth model that distinguishes it from most of the other cultivated woody species. The various problems that arise when olive is cultivated outside its areal of origin are considered, from induction processes to effective chilling requirements, as well as the effects of climatic environment on plant growth and product quality following shifts in areal. The paper concludes with a brief analysis of open questions relative to new models of cultivation.