Study of fatty acid accumulation profile in olive (Olea europaea L.) seeds of Shengeh and Mari cultivars during fruit ripening

Fatty acids accumulation pattern and oil oxidizability during fruit ripening of two olive cultivars of high and low oleic acid, Shengeh and Mary,were studied respectively while the environmental conditions kept constant. Samplings were done at 90, 120, 150 and 180 days after flowering (DAF) and the fatty acid composition was determined by gas chromatography (GC) after seed oil extraction by n-hexane. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that accumulation of stearic, oleic and linoleic acids were significantly influenced by genotype. Indeed, there was a significant correlation between time andboth oleic and linoleic acids. Overall measurements demonstrated higher palmitic and linoleic acids in Shengeh cv. and higher steraric and oleic acids in Mari cv. During four studied stages olive development . Also, there was a positive correlation between linoleate and calculated oxidizability value (COX). Increasing pattern of oleic acid content in both genotypes implies the inhibitory effect of oleic acid on the phospholipase activity of oleosins leading prevention in out-course germination It is worthy to note that genotype plays a crucial role in fatty acid content in development stages as seed oli acid content in mary cv. is higher then Shengeh.