# Fresh and Aromatic Virgin Olive Oil Obtained from Arbequina, Koroneiki, and Arbosana Cultivars
## 2 Results and Discussion
### Photosynthetic Pigments  
Table 4 shows the maximum values of the chlorophyll and carotenoid content predicted by the models. In addition to being responsible for the color of olive oil, these natural pigments also play an important role in the oxidative stability of the oil [23]. The sample with the highest content of chlorophylls was the Koroneiki rainffed sample and that with the lowest content was the Arbequina irrigated sample. The sample with the highest content of carotenoids was the Koroneiki rainffed sample, while the Arbequina sample had the lowest carotenoid content. [PERSON] et al. [15] reported that EVOO produced from rainffed crops exhibited a higher level of photosynthetic pigments than EVOO from irrigated crops. Samples with lower MIs had a higher content of these photosynthetic compounds. During the ripening process, the chlorophyll and carotenoid contents decreased, which was similar to the results observed by [PERSON] et al. [24]. To obtain olive oils with a green color, i.e., with a high chlorophyll content, green or less mature olives should be used in the extraction. In addition, the  
Figure 3: (**a**) Response surface and (**b**) perturbation graphic of the effects of temperature and time on the total LOX volatile content for the Arbosana cultivar (irrigated, MI = 0.07), for a diameter of 5.5 mm.  
rainfed samples contained more chlorophylls than the irrigated ones. These results also coincided with those obtained by [PERSON] et al. [24; 25].  
The decrease in the chlorophyll and carotenoid content during the ripening process is due to the involvement of an enzymatic system in the degradation of chlorophylls during the maturation of olive fruits, as described by [PERSON] et al. [26]. The ripeness stage of the olives at harvesting was correlated to the amount of pigments in the resulting EVOOs. Interestingly, a decrease in the ratio of chlorophyll derivatives to carotenoids in the olive oils was observed with increasing maturity of the olives at harvesting [25].  
In terms of the technological factors, in general, the adjustment of the mathematical models for both photosynthetic pigments was good and the three factors studied had a great influence on the contents of chlorophylls and carotenoids, as can be seen in the perturbation graph in Figure 4. Essentially, to obtain a high content of photosynthetic compounds, a malaxation temperature of 40 \({}^{\circ}\)C, a malaxation time of 90 min, and a hammer-crusher grid hole diameter of 4.5 mm should be used. The same conditions were obtained for the Arbequina, Koroneiki, and Arbosana cultivars. The temperature and malaxation time had a great influence; when both were increased, the chlorophyll content of the resulting oil increased. On the contrary, the diameter had less influence, with increasing diameter decreasing pigment content.  
Our models are different from those obtained by [PERSON] et al. [27] using the same methodology (RSM); their model did not indicate an influence of the temperature on the chlorophyll content, probably due to the fact that they used a different cultivar, Chemlali, at a different maturity index, 4.7.