Oxidative stress in olive in vitro culture: effects of organized development and mass propagation of Biancolilla and Cerasuola cvs.

The in vitro culture of olive explants very often results in poor growth and reduced proliferation of axillary buds. Many different factors have been considered and in many cases the unusual, for this species, surrounding environment has been held responsible for the scarce results obtained. Recently oxidative stresses have also been investigated and among the different factors involved, wounding, sterilisation, nutritional components and culture environment were claimed as main stress-inducing agents. This experiment reports on a preliminary study on two important Sicilian varieties, Biancolilla and Cerasuola, aiming to find the existing relationships among olive explant growth and prolife…