Saline Water Irrigation Effects on Fruit Development, Quality, and Phenolic Composition of Virgin Olive Oils, Cv. Chemlali

Abstract

Field-grown olive trees (cv. Chemlali) were used over two growing seasons to determine the effect of different saline water irrigation levels on fruit development characteristics, yield, and virgin olive oil (VOO) quality. The plants were irrigated with fresh water (FW; ECe=1.2 dS m(-1)) and saline water (SS; ECe=7.5 dS m(-1)). Fruit weight, olive, and oil content decreased under irrigation with saline water. Total oil contents were 27.85 and 25.7% fresh weight (fw) during 2005 in FW and SS irrigated plants, respectively. However, major phenolic compounds (tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol, vanillic,...) and total phenol concentrations in VOO increased under saline water irrigation. In 2005, total phenol contents were 198 and 223 mg/kg of oil in FW and SS treatments, respectively. Furthermore, VOO from SS treated plants showed higher contents of oleic, linoleic, linolenic, and heptadecanoic acids than FW ones, and oil samples of both treatments were classified as "extra virgin".

Long-term effects of partial root-zone drying (PRD) on yield, oil composition and quality of olive tree (cv. Chemlali) irrigated with saline water in arid land

“…However, Dabbou et al (2010) reported an increase of the total amount of phenols associated with the increase in irrigation for Arbequina olive cultivar under Tunisian conditions. The phenol content was very low compared with values reported by Ben Ahmed et al (2009) in the same region, which could be attributed to harvest period, crop load and procedure of oil extraction.…”

“…Indeed, with saline treatments a slight but not significant increase in oil content was observed (Klein et al, 1994;Gucci and Tattini, 1997;Wiesman et al, 2004). Saline treatments increase the levels of phenols and vitamin E in olive oil, while other oil composition parameters such as free fatty acids, peroxide value and fatty acid profile remained unaffected (Wiesman et al, 2004;Ben Ahmed et al, 2009;Stefanoudaki et al, 2009). Nevertheless, the long-term impact of irrigation regimes with saline water on olive growing has not yet been clearly studied.…”

Long-terms effects of irrigation with treated municipal wastewater on soil, yield and olive oil quality

“…These salts accumulation could be primarily due to high concentration of Na and Cl for both water resources. The alteration of plant growth, even at slight rate, such salinity levels could not be with a serious problem for Chemlali olive tree, at least under described environmental conditions as reported by Ben Ahmed et al (2009). The high Na concentration in soil solution can be explained by: (i) the antagonistic activity of either K + or NH 4 + which reduced the adsorption of Na on exchangeable complex and (ii) high calcium supply that enhanced the selectivity for the uptake and transport of K + over Na + .…”

Irrigation‐induced salinity affects olive oil quality and health‐promoting properties

“…Peroxide values, FFA values, and UV‐specific extinction coefficients were all found to be stable regardless of salinity . Nevertheless, fatty acid profile was reported to change significantly under induced salinity conditions . These changes, however, differed greatly among the studies, to an extent where no general statement can be made concerning characteristic tendencies.…”