Effect of cultivation area and climatic conditions on volatiles of virgin olive oil

To elucidate the influence of the cultivation area and climatic conditions on volatiles of virgin olive oil from Gemlik cultivar, an investigation was carried out. Five Turkish geographical zones (Balikesir, Aydin, Manisa, Antalya and Hatay) were chosen. From these areas, fruits were collected at the same maturity stage and processed using a small experimental olive oil mill, applying identical processing conditions for all olive samples. Headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) technique coupled to GC/MS was used for volatile analysis. Twenty-seven compounds were identified and characterised, representing 96.4098.74% of the total GC area. The major volatile representing about 50% was the (E)-2-hexenal. This compound was found in higher concentrations on olive oils from Antalya than from Hatay area. Hexanal was the second most abundant volatile compound and varied between 13.89 and 28.96%. Comparing the olive growing areas Hatay and Antalya, the hexanal concentration was about 29 and 14%, respectively. Generally, a significant difference in the composition of volatile compounds between the oils from the same olive cultivar and from different geographic regions was recorded. The results suggest that climatic factors, latitude and longitude affect the formation of volatiles.