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Abstract
In modern oil olive orchards, mechanical harvesting technologies have significantly accelerated harvesting outputs, thereby allowing for careful planning of harvest timing. While optimizing harvest time may have profound effects on oil yield and quality, the necessary tools to precisely determine the best date are rather scarce. For instance, the commonly used indicator, the fruit ripening index, does not necessarily correlate with oil accumulation. Oil content per fruit fresh weight is strongly affected by fruit water content, making the ripening index an unreliable indicator. However, oil in the paste, calculated on a dry weight basis (OPDW), provides a reliable indication of oil accumulation in the fruit. In most cultivars tested here, OPDW never exceeded ca. 0.5 g.g –1 dry weight, making this threshold the best indicator for the completion of oil accumulation and its consequent reduction in quality thereafter. The rates of OPDW and changes in quality parameters strongly depend on local conditions, such as climate, tree water status and fruit load. We therefore propose a fast and easy method to determine and monitor the OPDW in a given orchard. The proposed method is a useful tool for the determination of optimal harvest timing, particularly in large plots under intensive cultivation practices, with the aim of increasing orchard revenues. The results of this research can be directly applied in olive orchards, especially in large-scale operations. By following the proposed method, individual plots can be harvested according to sharp thresholds of oil accumulation status and pre-determined oil quality parameters, thus effectively exploiting the potentials of oil yield and quality. The method can become a powerful tool for scheduling the harvest throughout the season, and at the same time forecasting the flow of olives to the olive mill.
Highlights
Fruit harvesting is the most important activity in olive orchards
The oil content in the paste, calculated on a fresh weight basis, would have been the first choice for determining oil yield at any point in time; it is a direct measurement of the fruit oil content, and employing recent technologies such as near infrared (NIR) spectrometry, rapidly produces reliable figures (García Sánchez et al, 2005; Cayuela et al, 2009; Naor et al, 2012; Armenta et al, 2015)
Fruit oil content on a fresh weight basis is the common parameter used by the industry to determine, after harvest, the actual oil yield at the press and the consequent reimbursement to the grower
Summary
Fruit harvesting is the most important activity in olive orchards. Olive harvesting is performed manually or is semi-mechanized and as such, it is highly labor-intensive (García et al, 2010). The restricted availability of laborers forces an extended harvest period, even in small orchards. To collect the entire yield, harvesting usually begins quite early and ends very late in the season. Local traditions, fruit yield, topography and weather conditions are all pertinent parameters in determining harvest initiation. Other considerations that strongly affect the orchard revenue, such as yield and quality, are not under practical control in the traditional olive farm and are neglected. A consequence of the common olive grower’s poor ability to select an optimal harvesting time is the largely compromised quality of commercially produced olive oils (García et al, 1996)
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