Discriminating power of the hydrocarbon content from virgin olive oil of Extremadura cultivars

The alkane, alkene, and sesquiterpene contents of 105 samples of virgin oils from seven Extremaduran olive varieties-Cacere (n) over tildea, Carrasque (n) over tildea, Cornezuelo, Corniche, Morisca, Picual, and Verdial de Badajoz-were in three states of maturity: green, semi-ripe, and ripe. There were significant differences at the 0.01 probability level in most of the hydrocarbons, both by variety and by state of maturity. Discriminant analysis applied to 70 samples explained 72.3% of the variance between the different groups of varieties and allowed 90% of the samples to be classified according to their variety. The acceptability of the model was verified against the remaining 35 samples, giving a mean level of correct classification of 94%.