ANALYSIS OF MICRONUTRIENTS IN OLIVE POLLEN

The micronutrient content [iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zin c (Zn), boron (B)] of olive (Olea europaea L.) pollen grains from diff erent sites is studied by means of spectrophotometry and atomic absorp tion techniques. We compared pollen samples collected from organic oli ve crops (B1, B2, and B3), cultivated without the use of mineral-based fertilizers, phytosanitary products or herbicides with samples obtain ed from crops which had undergone extensive chemical treatment (T1, T2 , T3, and T4). The micronutrients detected in the pollen grains analyz ed show that large quantities of such chemical products are absorbed b y the plant. The importance of Fe should be stressed, since in one of the chemically-treated samples (T3) levels of 1,484 mu g/g dry weight were found to have been incorporated into the structure, while in the control samples the equivalent concentrations ranged between 96 and 45 0 mu g/g dry weight. Similarly, Cu was found to have been easily assim ilated by populations which had received extensive Cu-based foliar tre atments.