Scientia Horticulturae 129 (2011) 919–921

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Scientia Horticulturae
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Short communication

Relationship between the oil and sugar content in olive oil fruits from Moraiolo
and Leccino cultivars during ripening
Marzia Migliorini a , Chiara Cherubini a , Marco Mugelli a , Giacomo Gianni a ,
Serena Trapani b , Bruno Zanoni b,∗
a
Laboratorio Chimico Merceologico, Azienda Speciale CCIAA di Firenze, Via Orcagna 70, 50121 Florence, Italy
b
Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Food Technology Section, University of Florence, Via Donizetti 6, 50144 Florence, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In our previous work (Cherubini et al., 2009), sugar concentration was proposed as an accurate, repro-
Received 3 December 2010 ducible index for technological ripening of olive oil fruits. During 2009 crop season, sugar and oil content
Received in revised form 4 May 2011 of olive oil fruits from Moraiolo and Leccino cultivars were measured during ripening. The sugar content
Accepted 30 May 2011
of olive oil fruits was determined both by titration and by using a portable refractometer.
A linear relationship was found, which was similar to that identified for Frantoio cultivar in our previous
Keywords:
work. Evaluation of ◦ Brix using a refractometer was found to be linearly correlated to the sugar content
Extra virgin olive oil
of olive oil fruits.
Leccino cultivar
Moraiolo cultivar
It was confirmed that sugar concentration may be considered as a direct index for peculiar biochemical
Ripening kinetics phenomenon of oil accumulation during ripening of olive oil fruits. Evaluation of ◦ Brix could thus be useful
Sugar content for a simple, fast determination of the sugar content and, indirectly, the relevant oil content.
© 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Extra virgin olive oil quality is dependent upon both olive
variety, i.e. their cultivar, health condition and degree of ripen-
ing, and operating conditions of the extraction process, i.e.
time, temperature and exposure to oxygen (Migliorini et al.,
2009).
During ripening of olive oil fruits, biochemical processes occur,
which result in both accumulation of oil and formation of a charac-
teristic acidic composition of olive oil (i.e. richness in oleic acid and
a low polyunsaturated fatty acid content). The precursor of biosyn-
thesis of fatty acids is acetyl-CoA, derived from catabolism of sugars
such as glucose and fructose (Lavee, 1986; Nergiz and Engez, 2000;
Rangel et al., 1997; Salas et al., 2002). The sugar content has been
found to decrease with time, tending to an asymptote, while the oil
content follows a similar, though opposite, trend (Cherubini et al.,
2009). Previous studies have also shown that olives with a high
sugar content may result in defective (i.e. ‘fusty’) oil because of fer-
mentation of sugars during the production process (Mugelli et al.,
2005).
In a previous work (Cherubini et al., 2009) carried out on
olive oil fruits from Frantoio cultivar, a linear relationship was
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 055 3220336; fax: +39 055 355995.
E-mail address: bruno.zanoni@unifi.it (B. Zanoni).
identified between sugar and oil content in olive oil fruits dur-
ing ripening. This relationship has contributed to the hypothesis
that sugar concentration could be accurate, reproducible index
for identifying a technological ripening degree of olive oil fruits
with the following prediction value: a correct degree of ripen-
ing of olives corresponds to attainment of a constant minimum
value for sugars and, consequently, a constant maximum value for
oil, associated with reduced risk of fermentation activities of olive
paste.
The aim of this work was to verify the above-mentioned
sugar–oil linear relationship using olives from Moraiolo and Leccino
cultivars during the ripening period.
2. Materials and methods
Olive oil fruits (Olea europea L. cv Moraiolo and Leccino) were
picked by hand once a week at 8:00 a.m. from the beginning of
September to the beginning of December during 2009 crop sea-
son. Full blooming has occurred by 28th–30th May. No significant
differences were observed between the two cultivars. Olives were
supplied by a farm located in San Casciano Val di Pesa (Florence,
Italy). Ten Moraiolo and Leccino cultivar trees were selected as they
were quantitatively representative of orchard. Olives (400–500 g),
which presented no infection or physical damage, were selected
for each crop date. Olive ripening was studied by measuring water,
sugar and oil contents.

0304-4238/$ – see front matter © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.scienta.2011.05.023
920 M. Migliorini et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 129 (2011) 919–921

800

700

600

dm)
500
-1
Oil content (g kg
400

300

200

100

0
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200

Sugar content (g kg -1 dm)

Fig. 1. Relationship between oil and sugar contents: , experimental data for Leccino 2009; 䊉, experimental data for Moraiolo 2009; , experimental data for Moraiolo
2005;, experimental data for Moraiolo 2004; , new linear model; - - - - - old linear model.

2.1. Chemical analysis
A homogeneous lot of olives was crushed with a laboratory
crusher, the olive paste obtained was used for chemical analyses.
The water content (g kg−1 ) was measured on fresh olive paste,
by placing 15 g of olive paste in an oven at 105 ◦ C until reaching
constant weight.
The total sugar content was determined on 16 g of fresh olive
paste and measured by the UNI 22608 method (Anonymous, 1992),
modified as described in our previous study (Cherubini et al., 2009).
Results for sugar content obtained from the equipment (Compact
Titrator, Crison, Modena, Italy) were expressed as g sugar mL−1
solution. The sugar content was then referred to 1 kg on dry matter
(dm) of olive fruits.
The sugar content of olive fruits was also determined by read-
ing the sugar aqueous solution of olive extract on a refractometer
(PR-32␣, Atago, Bellevue, WA, USA). The sugar aqueous solution
was prepared by homogenizing 20 g of olive paste in 40 mL dis-
tilled water by stirring on a magnet for 2 min. The homogenate was
centrifuged at 11,000 rpm (i.e. 7780 g) for 10 min. The clear solution
was recovered, filtered through a 0.45 ␮m vented syringe. Results
were expressed as ◦ Brix.
The total oil content was determined on 10 g of fresh olive
paste, previously dehydrated until reaching constant weight. Sam-
ples were extracted with hexane in an automatic Randall extractor
(mod. 148, Velp Scientifica, Milan, Italy), following the analytical
technique described in our previous study (Cherubini et al., 2009).
Results were expressed as g kg−1 dm.
2.2. Data processing
An olive sample was chosen and used to carry out analyses in
quintuple. The error percentage was calculated from standard devi-
ation of relevant sugar and oil contents. It resulted to be 5% for the
sugar and 7% for the oil content.
Trends for sugar and oil contents were processed using Table
Curve 2D software (v.4, Systos Software Inc., Richmond, CA,
USA).

4
°Brix

0
50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
Sugar content (g kg -1dm)

Fig. 2. Relationship between sugar content and ◦ Brix: , experimental data for Leccino 2009; 䊉, experimental data for Moraiolo 2009; , linear model.
 M. Migliorini et al. / Scientia Horticulturae 129 (2011) 919–921
Table 1
Linear relationship between oil (y) and sugar (x) contents (g kg−1 dm).
Cultivar Crop Linear equation r2
season
Moraiolo 2009 y = 924.7 − 5.4 x 0.80
Leccino 2009 y = 646.1 – 2.6 x 0.80
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Sugar–oil relationship
Experimental data for sugar and oil contents from Moraiolo and
Leccino cultivars during 2009 crop season were statistically related
by a significant linear relationships (Table 1). As can be seen, Lec-
cino and Moraiolo cultivars showed differing values in sugar and oil
contents over the same period of study. In particular, Leccino culti-
var had always a higher sugar content than Moraiolo cultivar over
the same period.
Experimental data from 2009 were compared with the sugar–oil
linear relationship, which had been set up for Frantoio cultivar in
our previous work (Cherubini et al., 2009) (Fig. 1). This compar-
ison also included other experimental data collected for olive oil
fruits from Moraiolo cultivar during 2005 and 2004 crop seasons
and reported elsewhere (Migliorini et al., 2008).
Fig. 1 shows that experimental data for the cultivars investi-
gated in this study were placed along the linear relationship for
sugar–oil from Frantoio cultivar. All data could thus be re-processed
to find a new relationship. This new relationship had quite similar
parameters to and a higher statistical and operating significance
than previous relationship, as it can fit multiple cultivars. The new
relationship is as follows:
[O] = q − m[S] r 2 = 0.69 P < 0.001
where [O] is the oil content (g kg−1 dm), [S] is the sugar content
(g kg−1 dm) and q and m are proportionality constants with val-
ues of 843.1 (g oil kg−1 dm) and 4.1 (g oil kg−1 dm kg dm g−1 sugar),
respectively.
3.2. Sugar–◦ Brix relationship
Based on operating benefits of the sugar content as an index for
ripening, it was decided to use refractometric evaluation of ◦ Brix
to identify an indirect index for faster, simpler measurement of the
sugar content in olive oil fruits during ripening.
Fig. 3. Example of a 3D diagram of DAFB (day) as a function of sugar and oil contents
during ripening of Moraiolo cultivar olive fruits.
921
Following significant empirical linear relationships were found
for Moraiolo and Leccino cultivars, respectively:
P value
[S] = −0.78 + 0.036[◦ Bx] r 2 = 0.85 P < 0.001
<0.001
<0.001 [S] = 1.77 + 0.025[◦ Bx] r 2 = 0.61 P < 0.001
where [S] is the sugar content (g kg−1 dm), [◦ Bx] is Brix degree.
Fig. 2 shows the above relationships. Linear trends were basi-
cally parallel trends and showed different intercepts. Therefore,
both cultivars studied exhibited a clear cultivar-dependent effect,
which may affect the refractometer response. As a result, obtained
relationships could vary from case to case.
4. Conclusions
In this study a linear relationship was observed for Moraiolo
and Leccino cultivars, which was found to be similar to that iden-
tified for Frantoio cultivar during previous crop seasons (Cherubini
et al., 2009). This confirms that sugar concentration may be con-
sidered as a direct index for the peculiar biochemical process of oil
accumulation during olive ripening.
Significant linearity with our chemical method was then shown
by rapid determination of the sugar content by means of a refrac-
tometer. Evaluation of ◦ Brix may be useful to obtain simple, rapid
determination of the sugar content and indirect determination of
the relevant oil content.
Results may thus contribute to choosing the optimal harvest
stage for each olive orchard. Three-D diagrams (Fig. 3) can be
applied to our experimental data to show the effect of the date
of harvest (i.e. day after full blooming) on sugar and oil contents of
olive fruits, as reported by Breton et al. (2009). The following poly-
nomial empirical models may be set up to predict the best stage of
harvest for Moraiolo and Leccino cultivars, respectively:
[DAFB] = 232 − 1.46[S] + 0.08[O] r 2 = 0.90 P < 0.001
[DAFB] = 176 − 0.48[S] + 0.14[O] r 2 = 0.95 P < 0.001
where [DAFB] is the day after full blooming, [S] is the sugar content
(g kg−1 dm), [O] is the oil content (g kg−1 dm).
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