Investigation of fatty acid compositions and some pomological characteristics of different olive cultivars during maturation in cool subtropical condition of Turkey

Olive (Olea europaea L.) has great genetic variation in Turkey as important crop due to its economic value. There are many cultivars, types and landraces with various morphological characters in different ecological conditions of Turkey, having good potential for productivity, oil quality and table olive characters. The northwestern region of Turkey with cool subtropical climate has most suitable ecological conditions for highest quality olives and olive oils. This research was carried out to pomological characteristics and fatty acid composition of eight local olive cultivars including ‘Ayvalık’, ‘Domat’, ‘Edincik Su’, ‘Gemlik’, ‘Karamürsel Su’, ‘Memecik’, ‘Samanlı’ and ‘Uslu’, which widely grown in Turkey. Cultivars were collected in intervals of about 10 days from September 15 to December 22 in 2014. In this research fruit weight (g of 100 fruits), pulp ratio (%), maturity index (MI) and fatty acid composition were determined. As a result of this study, ‘Domat’, ‘Karamürsel Su’ and ‘Memecik’ had the heaviest fruits and ‘Memecik’ and ‘Domat’ cultivars had the highest pulp ratio (%). ‘Karamürsel Su’, ‘Gemlik’ and ‘Samanli’ were found to the highest maturity index values at the end of harvesting time. ‘Karamürsel Su’ ‘Domat’ and ‘Edincik Su’ had highest ratios of polyunsaturated fatty acids whereas ‘Memecik’ and ‘Uslu’ cultivars had the highest ratios of monounsaturated fatty acids.