Période de récolte et caractéristiques de l’huile d’olive de quatre variétés en irrigué dans la région de Meknès au Maroc

The objectives of this study were to determine the optimal harvest time and characterization of olive oil of four olive varieties; Arbequina, Dahbia, Haouzia and Menara; under irrigation in the region of Meknes. A varietal effect was found regarding fruit, pulp and stone weights and the ratio pulp/stone. Haouzia showed the largest fruit weight followed by Dahbia, Menara and Arbequina. The Pulp/stone ratio (> 5) is satisfactory for the four varieties with a higher ratio for Haouzia. The relation between these parameters taken individually and maturity index showed a high positive correlation. The oil content per fresh weight reached 23.6% for Menara, 22.5% for Haouzia, 20,0% for Dahbia and 18,0% for Arbequina. The highest polyphenol contents recorded were 1 757 ppm for Arbequina, 2 021 ppm for Dahbia, and 2 120 for Haouzia and Menara. The oil and polyphenols contents were highly and positively correlated with the maturity index. The levels of oleic acid in Haouzia (76.1%), Dahbia (75.3%) and Menara (75.2%) were higher than that in Arbequina (66.2%). The integration of the oil and polyphenols contents allowed to determine an optimal harvest period located between late November and late December