Macauba oil quality index using factor analysis

Macauba palm oil [(Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Mr. Lodd. ex Mart)] has been standing out for its various possibilities of use: in the production of biodiesel, soap, margarine and in the cosmetics industry. Macauba's fruits are collected when they naturally fall into the soil, which provides increased moisture and the colonization of microorganisms that deteriorate and alter parts of the fruit. Therefore, the production of quality oil is conditioned to the harvesting and post-harvest process. In this sense, aiming to help the harvesting and post-harvest process, the objective was to create an oil quality index (IQO) extracted from Macauba. In order to do this, data from an experiment installed in a randomized blocks design were used, where fruits with different postharvest times in the field and with different methods of harvest (fruits harvested in the soil and collector) were collected. Six variables that have a direct relationship with oil quality were measured. Based on the measured variables, a Factor Analysis (FA) with varimax rotation was used to create the IQO. As results, the first two factors explained 81% of the variance of the data and, the first factor, which explained 57% of the total variance, was used in the construction of the IQO. The index proposed in this study proved to be efficient in classifying the quality of Macauba oil from samples of different conditions of post-harvest of fruits, suggesting that the time after harvest in the field of fruits should not exceed 14 days.