Draft article not currently submitted for review. This is a draft Articles for creation (AfC) submission. It is not currently pending review. While there are no deadlines, abandoned drafts may be deleted after six months. To edit or make changes to this draft, simply click on the "Edit" tab at the top of the window. To be accepted, a draft should: Show the subject qualifies for a Wikipedia article by using multiple sources that meet four criteria. The sources should be (1) reliable (2) secondary (3) independent of the subject (4) talk about the subject in some depth. For some topics, there are alternative criteria. Be written from a neutral point of view Respect copyright and do not plagiarize. Do not copy-paste. It is strongly discouraged to write about either yourself or your business or employer. If you do so, you must declare it. Where to get help If you need help editing or submitting your draft, please ask us a question at the AfC Help Desk or get live help from experienced editors. These venues are only for help with editing and the submission process, not to get reviews. If you need feedback on your draft, or if the review is taking a lot of time, you can try asking for help on the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Some WikiProjects are more active than others so a speedy reply is not guaranteed. How to improve a draft Wikipedia:Contributing to Wikipedia – a basic overview on how to edit Wikipedia. Help:Wikitext – how to use the markup Help:Referencing for beginners – how to include references Wikipedia:Article development – how to develop your article Wikipedia:Writing better articles – how to improve your article Wikipedia:Verifiability – make sure your article includes reliable third-party sources You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Add tags to your draft Editor resources Easy tools: Citation bot (help) | Advanced: Fix bare URLs Last edited by Citation bot (talk | contribs) 23 days ago. (Update) Submit the draft for review!

Lecciana is an olive cultivar developed through a controlled crossbreeding programme between cv. Arbosana (♀) and cv. Leccino (♂), carried out in Catalonia, Spain, in 1998. It is the first olive cultivar of Italian descent suitable for super-high-density (SHD) orchard systems, and its oils qualify as nutraceutical extra virgin olive oils under European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) health claim regulations.

In 1998, Agromillora Iberia S.L.U. initiated a controlled cross between cv. Arbosana (♀) and cv. Leccino (♂) in Catalonia, Spain, as part of an international research agreement with the University of Bari Aldo Moro (Italy). The objective was to obtain new olive genotypes suited to super-high-density planting systems while meeting market demand for nutraceutical oils.^[1]

The variety was coded OAC9806-10 and identified in commercial farms from 2013 onwards in Italy. It holds a European Community plant variety patent (CPVO n. A201702935) and a U.S. plant patent (US PP no. 30,208 P2) granted in 2019. Lecciana is not a GMO.

Lecciana is a low-vigour cultivar with an upright growth habit and medium canopy density, traits that make it well suited to SHD hedgerow systems. It reaches significant yield at the third year after planting (early bearing) and supports planting densities exceeding 1,200 trees per hectare, enabling efficient continuous mechanical harvesting by straddle machines.

Key agronomic parameters, as measured over four growing cycles (2015–2018) in comparison orchards in Foggia, southern Italy:^[1]

• Fruit weight: 3.5 g
• Oil content: 19.3% (fresh weight basis)
• Fruit yield efficiency: 0.48 kg per cm² of trunk section area
• Cumulated oil yield: 4.5 kg per tree (fresh weight)
• Gynosterility (pistil abortion): 3%
• Fruit set (open pollination): >3%

Lecciana is self-incompatible, as are most olive cultivars. The recommended pollinators are the same as for its parent cultivars, Leccino and Arbosana.

The optimal harvesting window occurs between 193 and 208 days after full bloom, when the Jaen ripening index reaches 2 and the detachment index falls below 2.0 N·g⁻¹. Under the conditions of Apulia, southern Italy, this corresponds to the second decade of November.

Lecciana oils are characterised by a high oleic acid content (73.7%), a fatty acid profile close to the reference values of Italian monovarietal extra virgin olive oils, and a low linoleic acid content (6.2%) compared to Arbequina (13.2%).

At optimal harvest time (around 200 days after full bloom), total polyphenol content reaches 460 mg·kg⁻¹ and median fruitiness is 4.4 out of 7.0, both significantly higher than those recorded for Arbequina and Arbosana under the same conditions.^[1]

Polyphenol content exceeds the 300–350 mg·kg⁻¹ threshold required for the EFSA functional health claim on olive oil polyphenols (Regulation EC No. 432/2012), which states that olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress. Lecciana oils therefore qualify as nutraceutical EVOOs under this regulation.

Field observations across multiple growing areas indicate that Lecciana shows greater tolerance to frost and olive leaf spot (Spilocaea oleagina) than cv. Arbequina. Resistance or tolerance to Xylella fastidiosa subsp. pauca was under evaluation as of the date of publication of the 2021 University of Bari study.^[1]

As of 2020, approximately two million Lecciana plants had been distributed, with 40% planted in Spain, 45% in Italy, and 15% in Portugal. Plantations in other countries remained at pre-commercial level at that date. No licences have been granted to third-party nurseries; multiplication and propagation rights are held exclusively by Agromillora subsidiaries.^[1]

Lecciana is cultivated in super-high-density hedgerow systems across Spain, Italy and Portugal. The variety has received international recognition in olive oil competitions: JANIROC Lecciana, produced by Grup PONS (Les Garrigues, Lleida), won the Light Fruity Organic category at Premio Expoliva 2026, the oldest olive oil competition in Spain,^[2] and the Lecciana category at Premio il Magnifico 2025.^[3]