This review highlights the current status of Tunisian olive production, challenges facing the sector and opportunities available. Olive, a fruit tree native to Mediterranean countries, is the subject of increased international interest for olive oil production for the global food market. Olive and olive oil production in Tunisia are of great socio-economic importance, with more than 70 millions olive trees including a wide range of cultivars and represents the third important leg in fruit production. Tunisia is the 4th largest producer of olive oil in the world and oil exports represent 40% of the overall value of agronomic exports and 5.5 % of aggregate exports, making it the fifth largest source of foreign currency earnings for the country. However, the actual production of olive oil could be increased by the entire contributors in the sector and by the monitoring by government extension services. Almost 2 out of 3 farmers grow olives in the country. The crop is spread over areas from the northern to the southern regions, where a wide range of edaphon-climatic conditions prevail, from lower semi-arid to arid conditions and receiving annually less than 250 mm of rain-fall (IOOC, 2003). So far, most of the production has been done using traditional techniques and under rainfed conditions. This translates into extremely erratic production levels depending on the year. The major challenges for olive production and for Tunisian producers are to improve fruit and oil quality in order to maintain their competitiveness on the international oil market and to meet consumer demands. The major opportunity available to develop Tunisian olive sector is primarily the improvement of yields, the raising of productivity and oil quality and meet the recent boom in demand for olive oil and table olive around the world.

Soil salinity limits crop productivity in many regions. This problem would be more serious as the global climate changes and worldwide water shortages would accelerate soil salinization. This study is fulfilled with aim on resolve crop cultivation in dry/saline land as an international joint research project with Tunisia. Total 48 lines of wheat cultivars including 32 common wheat (16 Korean wheat, 16 Tunisian common wheat) and 16 Tunisian durum wheat were incorporated in this study. Salt stress was applied for 2 weeks by submerging the pots into 500 mM NaCl at 3-leaf stage followed by re-watering for restoration in greenhouse. Numerous agronomic/growth parameters were scored for tolerence. SSR primers that have been known to be related to salt tolerance were applied to explain selected population. The correlation between PCR-based length polymorphism of selected lines and their resistance were evaluated. The obtained information will aid selection for salt tolerance hexa/tetraploid wheats. Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (No. 2012K1A3A1A09028123) and carried out with the support of “Cooperative Research Program for Agriculture Science & Technology Development (Project title: Development of high yielding wheat with stress tolerance via molecular breeding strategies, Project No. PJ008031)”, Rural Development Administration, Republic of Korea.

Drought tolerance is the ability of a plant to live, grow, and reproduce properly with limited water supply or under periodic conditions of water deficit. However, the climate changes and worldwide water shortages would result in the loss of applied water to irrigated land, increasing soil water deficit. To control the situation, we have carried out the international joint research project for the aim of developing that drought tolerance common wheat and durum wheat in Korea and Tunisia. Total 79 (41 common wheat, 39 durum wheat) Tunisian lines and 33 Korean wheat cultivars were incorporated in this study. Drought stress was applied for 25 days of stopping irrigation from the 3-leaf stage followed by re-watering for restoration in greenhouse. We selected top 13 (5 Korean line, 8 Tunisian line) tolerant lines and 11 (5 Korean, 6 Tunisian) susceptible lines based on growth parameter analysis. Primers (Operon primers and wheat Dreb1 gene) that have been known to be related drought resistance were applied to explain selected population. The correlation between PCR-based length polymorphism of selected lines and their resistance were evaluated. The obtained primer information will aid selection for drought tolerance durum as well as hexaploid common wheat.