Evaluation of the Phytopathological Reaction of Wild and Cultivated Olives as a Means of Finding Promising New Sources of Genetic Diversity for Resistance to Root-Knot Nematodes

Olive (Olea europaea L.) is one of the most important fruit crops in the Mediterranean Basin, because it occupies significant acreage in these countries and often has important cultural heritage and landscape value. This crop can be infected by several Meloidogyne species (M. javanica, M. arenaria, and M. incognita, among others), and only a few cultivars with some level of resistance to these nematodes have been found. Innovations in intensive olive growing using high planting densities, irrigation, and substantial amounts of fertilizers could increase the nematode population to further damaging levels. To further understand the interactions involved between olive and pathogenic nematodes and in the hope of finding solutions to the agricultural risks, this research aimed to determine the reaction of important olive cultivars in Spain and wild olives to M. javanica infection, including genotypes of the same and other O. europaea subspecies. All olive cultivars tested were good hosts for M. javanica, but high levels of nematode reproduction found in three cultivars (Gordal Sevillana, Hojiblanca, and Manzanilla de Sevilla) were substantially different. In the wild accessions, O. europaea subsp. cerasiformis (genotype W147) and O. europaea subsp. europaea var. sylvestris (genotype W224) were resistant to M. javanica at different levels, with strong resistance in W147 (reproduction factor [Rf] = 0.0003) and moderate resistance in W224 (Rf = 0.79). The defense reaction of W147 to M. javanica showed a strong increase of phenolic compounds but no hypersensitive reaction.

This research was supported by grants P12-AGR 1486 and AGR-136 from the ‘Consejeria de Economia, Innovacion y Ciencia’ of the Junta de Andalucia, and Union Europea, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo regional, ‘Una manera de hacer Europa’, grant 201740E042, “Análisis de diversidad molecular, barcoding, y relaciones filogenéticas de nematodos fitoparásitos en cultivos mediterráneos” from Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), grant 219262 ArimNET_ERANET FP7 2012–2015 Project PESTOLIVE ‘Contribution of olive history for the management of soil-borne parasites in the Mediterranean basin’ from the Instituto Nacional de Investigación y Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA).

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