engleski

Application of Soxtec apparatus for oil content determination in olive fruit

The aim of this work was to apply the Soxtec apparatus to determine the oil content in olive fruit. A method was validated and subsequently applied for the study of 15 indigenous potentially distinctive olive varieties and one introduced as control. The efficiency of the developed extraction method by Soxtec apparatus was better or at least equivalent to that obtained by the conventional Soxhlet method, offering many advantages like short time analyses for several samples at the same time, good repeatability, effectiveness, low costs and minimal sample manipulation. Oil content on a dry weight basis in the fruit of the investigated varieties ranged from 25 to 49 % and from 21 to 46 % in 2004, and 2005 respectively. Oil content in olive fruit is a variety specific characteristic, but its fluctuations due to other factors make the variety discrimination just on the basis of this parameter, not reliable. Nevertheless, the application of the Soxtec apparatus is certainly a valuable tool for rapid determination of the best harvesting time, and one of the tools for varietal differentiation and characterization of olive trees.

olive oil content ; Soxtec ; Soxhlet ; variety ; characterization

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