Oil content, fatty acid composition and tocopherol concentration in the Spanish almond genebank collection

• Oil content, fatty acids and tocopherol homologues were determined in Spanish almonds.
• Very high content of oleic acid was found in ‘Muel’.
• Very high content of α-tocopherol was found in ‘Araguayo-2’.
• These results will be informative in designing crosses in breeding almond for quality.

Total oil content and concentrations of the major fatty acids and of the tocopherol homologues were determined in the kernel oil of 44 local almond cultivars originated in the different Spanish growing regions. The ranges of variability for the different parameters was similar to those already reported for almond, such as 50.58–64.95% of dry matter (DM) for oil content, 64.97–79.59% of oleic acid in the total oil, and 313.0–616.1 mg/kg oil for α-tocopherol. Despite these ranges of variability, extremely high values were obtained in some genotypes, such as very high content of oleic acid in ‘Muel’ and of α-tocopherol in ‘Araguayo-2’. These ranges of variability indicate that this collection reflects a high level of diversity and the importance of maintaining and characterising such a diverse germplasm collection. The knowledge of this diversity may be extremely useful in identifying interesting parents to be included in a breeding programme as a response to new selection objectives, such as the improvement of the chemical quality of the almond kernel.