Moderate Nitrogen Rates Applied to a Rainfed Olive Grove Seem to Provide an Interesting Balance between Variables Associated with Olive and Oil Quality
Ermelinda Silva acknowledges the financial support provided by national funds through
FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (PD/BD/128274/2017), under the Doctoral
Programme “Agricultural Production Chains—from fork to farm” (PD/00122/2012) and from the
European Social Funds and the Regional Operational Programme Norte 2020. This research was
funded by the Operational Group “Novas práticas em olivais de sequeiro: estratégias de mitigação e
adaptação às alterações climáticas”, funded by PT2020 and EAFRD (European Agricultural Fund for
Rural Development). The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT,
Portugal) and FEDER under Programme PT2020 for financial support to CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020)
and CITAB (UIDB/04033/2020) and also to AgriFood XXI Project, No. NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-
000041, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through NORTE 2020
(North Regional Operational Program 2014–2020). Ermelinda Silva also acknowledges the present financial
support throughout project NORTE-06-3559-FSE-000103 funded by the Fundo Social Europeu
(FSE) and FCT research unit Centre BIO R&D Unit (UIDB/05083/2020).
Nitrogen (N) fertilization has been extensively studied all over the world, not only due
to its impact on plant growth and yield, but also on product quality. Olive oil is a natural product
highly valued by the markets, due to its role in the Mediterranean diet, but only when its quality
is above legally established standards. Thus, it is important to continue to study how cropping
practices can impact the quality of olive oil in order to fine-tune the guidelines issued to producers.
The objective of the three-year study was to assess the effect of the application of 0, (N0), 40 (N40)
and 120 (N120) kg ha-1 of N in a rainfed olive grove on variables associated with fruit biometry
and the maturation index, polyphenols in olives and olive oil, the evolution of the quality of the oil
over time and sensory analysis. The application of N prolonged the period of coloration, delaying
the maturation of the fruits, particularly in the higher doses of N applied. N application changed
the phenolic composition and the antioxidant capacity of the fruits and olive oil, but without a clear
trend among years. In general, the high N rate negatively affected the quality of the oils, reducing the
oxidative stability and bitterness of the oil when compared to N40 treatment; this is due to the lower
content of phenolic compounds that have a radical scavenging capacity. Excessive N application
(N120) increased the degradation of the oil quality, as it led to an increase in the K232 extinction
coefficient. Moderate N rates (N40) seem to be a good compromise to guarantee the quality and
stability of the oil, although there was some interference from other uncontrolled environmental
variables; these were probably accentuated because the olives came from a rainfed olive grove. The
sensory analysis panel detected a defect (winey-vinegary flavour) in the oil from N40 treatment that
is difficult to justify and will need more attention in future studies.
