Preliminary Study for Possible Producion of Mutants Using Mutagenic Chemical Compunds in some Olive (Olea europea L.)Cultivars

To investigate the influence of chemical mutagenic compounds, semi woody cuttings of olive cultivars Rogani-Mahalli, Zard, Leccino and Manzanillo were treated with different concentrations of di-ethyle sulfate (DES) and di- methyl sulfate (DMS). Both rooted and control cuttings were studied in each treatment for each cultivar. The observations showed significant differences in morphological traits such as dwarfness, leaf form, annual shoot growth, rooting ease, root system and other characters. Application of di- methyl sulfate 0.1% had significantly more influence on the manzanillo cuttings compared to the other cultivars. Application of di-ethyl sulfate 0.03% caused more changes in morphological characters especially in production of dwarf plants in Rogani-Mahalli cultivar. In addition, the mutagenic chemical compounds influenced other morphological characters such as leaf color, leaf size, leaf number, stem color and bud color. Generally, the results showed the possibility of mutant production in olive by mutagenic chemical compounds, but for undrestanding of their effects, more investigation should be carried out.