The effect of agricultural practices on the quality of olive oil produced by two different varieties of olive trees

Abstract

Olive oil generally, is a very important product mainly for Greece and generally around the world. The nutritional values are many and as a product is a staple for the Mediterranean diet and it contributes for a healthy life style. Also, there are many quality standards for virgin olive oil, but there is usage for every other class of quality. This whole paper, is composed in order to develop the topic which is about the differences between two different types of olives (the koroneiki and the arbequina), the yield that the olive trees can give, the growing practices of the trees(percentages of irrigation, fertilization and density) and last to check the quality by comparing the final product which is the olive oil. This can be achieved, by carrying out the experiments that are needed to check the class of the olive oil. By measuring the acidity of the olive oil, the k values, the chlorophyll and carotenoids, the peroxide value and last the phenols can be determined the different qualities that an olive oil can have. The results have shown many differences between these two varieties.The agricultural practices have shown that they play a big role for the outcome of the olive oil, as also the altitude and the climate changes.In conclusion, every parameter that was conducted for the production of the olive oil, koroneiki was the one that had the better outcomes in most of the tests. The only that koroneiki had an issue with, was the premature oxidation that may occur because of some the irrigation of the soil.