Olive cultivation is increasing around the world, expanding from its native area of cultivation. To meet this new demand, breeding is playing an important role to introduce into cultivation new cultivars with desirable attributes of olive oil quality. Eighteen seedlings, derived from ’Leccino’ × ’Ascolana Tenera’, ’Leccino’ × ’Dolce Agogia’ and ’Leccino’ × ’Kalamata’, together with parental cultivars, were selected based on their productivity. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) and phenolic compositions were evaluated. Characterization of the phenolic profiles was performed by liquid-liquid extraction with 80:20 (v/v) methanol/water and subsequent chromatographic analysis with UV-liquid chromatography and spectrophotometer absorption. To determine the FAME composition, samples were analyzed by gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID). High variability was detected within and between the different cross progenies, with considerable deviation from their parents. In general, the highest values of total phenols (700 mg kg-1 oil) were measured in ’Leccino’ × ’Ascolana Tenera’ seedlings, with large amounts of individual phenols, such as forms of oleuropein and vanillic, p-coumaric, ferulic and cinnamic acids. Furthermore, a seedling from ’Leccino’ × ’Ascolana Tenera’ revealed interesting percentage of FAMEs, especially for oleic (85.42%) and linoleic (5.38%) acids. The study established the possibility of improving the quality of olive oil by cross-breeding of known cultivars. The best seedlings will be propagated for further evaluations such as agronomical, physiological and biochemical aspects.
