Influence of genotype on the fatty acids composition of virgin olive oils from advanced selections obtained by crosses between Arbequina, Picual, and Frantoio cultivars along the ripening process

The aim of this research was to study the influence of the ripening stage of olive fruits and genotype on the composition of esterified fatty acids (EFAs) and non esterified FAs (NEFAs) in virgin olive oils (VOOs) from advanced selections obtained by crosses between Arbequina, Picual, and Frantoio cultivars. For this purpose, a method based on gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) was used to estimate the percent of each type of FAs. Principal Component Analysis was applied to find clustering of samples attending to the ripening stages. Discrimination was observed for VOOs associated to early and advanced ripening stages according to the concentration of FAs. The contribution of ripening and genotype to explain the variability in the concentration of EFAs and NEFAs was evaluated by ANOVA. Linoleic acid was the FA most influenced by the genotype. The highest genetic variability in FAs composition was observed in the ripening stage in which the fruit color is reddish or light violet, since five EFAs (palmitic, palmitoleic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic) were significant to explain this effect. Therefore, the interval that lasts this ripening stage is the most appropriate to compare Arbequina, Frantoio, and Picual genotypes in olive breeding programs according to FAs composition. Practical applications: The composition of fatty acids (FAs) is one of the most critical aspects that affect the quality of VOOs, which has been related to balance of the concentrations of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated FAs. The results of this study can be used to improve olive oil quality by olive breeding programs.