INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION OF OIL CONTENTS AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF OILS IN OLIVE CULTIVARS

M. Uceda, M. Hermoso, A. García-Ortiz, A. Jimenez, G. Beltrán
The intraspecific variation between olive cultivars is essential for parents selection in a Breeding Project. The CIFA "Estación de Olivicultura y Elaiotecnia", approached the parents selection by oil content and oil quality, performing a screening between the cultivars cultivated in the Bank of Germoplasm in CIFA "Alameda del Obispo" Córdoba. Results for seven years of research, for an average of one hundred (100) cultivars for oil content and around fifty (50) for the characterisation of oil quality are presented.

The oil content in cultivars has been expressed over dry matter in pulp. The olives were characterized by their mean weight, flesh/stone ratio fruit humidity and oil over fresh weight in pulp. The cultivars could be graded by oil content. The oils obtained have been characterized from the nutritional and commercial point of view by their fatty acid composition, polyphenol content, tocopherols content and oil stability. Also, the results for two years are presented for another descriptor parameter of cultivar oil quality, like bitterness, measured by absorbance at 225 nm (K225). The results let us group the cultivars in classes with different characteristics selecting parents by the most interesting olive oils to obtain new olive cultivars.

Uceda, M., Hermoso, M., García-Ortiz, A., Jimenez, A. and Beltrán, G. (1999). INTRASPECIFIC VARIATION OF OIL CONTENTS AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF OILS IN OLIVE CULTIVARS. Acta Hortic. 474, 659-662
DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.474.136
https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1999.474.136
Olea europaea, olive cultivars, breeding, olive oil quality, oil content, polyphenols, tocopherols, oil stability, bitterness

Acta Horticulturae