Influence of altitude on chemical composition of Andalusian virgin olive oil. Mathematical classification equations

Abstract

The changes of chemical composition due to climatic influence, in virgin olive oil, is a research subject which has been scarcely developed. This paper studies this relation with Andalusian oils by altitude as an indirect parameter related to climate of their olive grow zones. It was found that sterols and some triterpenic alcohols and hydrocarbons show changes in relation with altitude. The oils were classified into two groups of altitude, valley and mountains, by mean of discriminant and regression analysis procedures. The rules were verified with samples harvested in 1988 and 1989. It was found a significative predictive power (more than 90%) when the variety is Picual.