Study Effect of Potassium, Zinc and Boron foliar application on fatty acid compositions of three Olive cultivar

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of foliar spraying of Potassium, Boron and Zinc on the fatty acid composition of the fruit of three olive, “Caillet”, “Koroneiki” and “Mission” in the olive orchard of of Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz  in 2016. The research was performed in a factorial experiment based on a randomized complete blocks design with three replications. Spray treatments were included T0 (Distilled water as control), T1 (1000 mg/l potassium sulfate + 1000 mg/l boric acid + 1000 mg/l zinc sulfate) and T2 (2000 mg/l potassium sulfate + 2000 mg/l boric acid +2000 mg/l zinc sulfate). The results showed that there was a significant difference between the foliar treatments in terms of oleic acid, palmitic acid, linoleic acid and oleic acid to linoleic acid ratio. Also, the fatty acids composition was different in different cultivars and growth conditions in particular, nutrition during fruit growth had an effect on fatty acids composition, and T2 treatments had the most positive effect on oil quality improvement compared to other treatments, especially in the “Caillet” variety. Therefore, under low altitude and high temperature conditions in Ahvaz, foliar spraying during fruit growth can improve the quality of olive oil by altering the amount of fatty acids by increasing oleic acid and decreasing palmitic acid.