Determination of tocopherol contents of some olive varieties harvested at different ripening periods

Abstract

The tocopherol contents of oils obtained from Ayvalik, Domat and Gemlik olive varieties harvested at different ripening periods were evaluated by high-performance liquid chromatography. alpha-Tocopherol was the major tocol detected in all the studied olive oil samples. The oils extracted from olive fruits composed of 130.54-180.43 mgkg(-1) alpha-tocopherol, 0.73-1.61mg kg(-1) beta-tocopherol and 0.53-2.28mg kg(-1) gamma-tocopherol for Ayvalik oil. The alpha-, beta- and gamma-tocopherol contents of Domat oil are in the ranges 95.60-125.56, 0.71-2.70 and 0.49-1.25mg kg(-1) at different harvesting periods. The alpha-, beta- and gamma-tocopherol contents of Gemlik olive oil are in the ranges 112.59-168.19, 0.94-1.21 and 0.85-2.40mg kg(-1), respectively. There were significant differences between the oils from cultivars grown in different environments.