diff --git a/quickwit/quickwit-search/src/collector.rs b/quickwit/quickwit-search/src/collector.rs
index 0e6b3517963..8e3b4925101 100644
--- a/quickwit/quickwit-search/src/collector.rs
+++ b/quickwit/quickwit-search/src/collector.rs
@@ -860,8 +860,10 @@ impl Collector for QuickwitCollector {
     }
 }
 
-fn map_error(err: postcard::Error) -> TantivyError {
-    TantivyError::InternalError(format!("merge result Postcard error: {err}"))
+fn map_error(error: postcard::Error) -> TantivyError {
+    TantivyError::InternalError(format!(
+        "failed to merge intermediate aggregation results: Postcard error: {error}"
+    ))
 }
 
 /// Merges a set of Leaf Results.
@@ -883,24 +885,24 @@ fn merge_intermediate_aggregation_result<'a>(
             Some(serialized)
         }
         Some(QuickwitAggregations::TantivyAggregations(_)) => {
-            let fruits: Vec<IntermediateAggregationResults> = intermediate_aggregation_results
-                .map(|intermediate_aggregation_result| {
-                    postcard::from_bytes(intermediate_aggregation_result).map_err(map_error)
-                })
-                .collect::<Result<_, _>>()?;
-
-            let mut fruit_iter = fruits.into_iter();
-            if let Some(first_fruit) = fruit_iter.next() {
-                let mut merged_fruit = first_fruit;
-                for fruit in fruit_iter {
-                    merged_fruit.merge_fruits(fruit)?;
-                }
-                let serialized = postcard::to_allocvec(&merged_fruit).map_err(map_error)?;
-
-                Some(serialized)
-            } else {
-                None
-            }
+            let merged_opt = intermediate_aggregation_results
+                .map(|bytes| postcard::from_bytes(bytes).map_err(map_error))
+                .try_fold::<_, _, Result<_, TantivyError>>(
+                    None,
+                    |acc: Option<IntermediateAggregationResults>, fruits_res| {
+                        let fruits = fruits_res?;
+                        match acc {
+                            Some(mut merged_fruits) => {
+                                merged_fruits.merge_fruits(fruits)?;
+                                Ok(Some(merged_fruits))
+                            }
+                            None => Ok(Some(fruits)),
+                        }
+                    },
+                )?;
+            let serialized =
+                postcard::to_allocvec(&merged_opt.unwrap_or_default()).map_err(map_error)?;
+            Some(serialized)
         }
         None => None,
     };
@@ -1293,10 +1295,13 @@ mod tests {
         SortOrder, SortValue, SplitSearchError,
     };
     use tantivy::TantivyDocument;
+    use tantivy::aggregation::agg_req::Aggregations;
+    use tantivy::aggregation::intermediate_agg_result::IntermediateAggregationResults;
     use tantivy::collector::Collector;
 
     use super::{IncrementalCollector, make_merge_collector};
-    use crate::collector::top_k_partial_hits;
+    use crate::QuickwitAggregations;
+    use crate::collector::{merge_intermediate_aggregation_result, top_k_partial_hits};
 
     #[test]
     fn test_merge_partial_hits_no_tie() {
@@ -2002,4 +2007,22 @@ mod tests {
         );
         // TODO would be nice to test aggregation too.
     }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_merge_empty_intermediate_aggregation_result() {
+        let merged = merge_intermediate_aggregation_result(&None, std::iter::empty()).unwrap();
+        assert!(merged.is_none());
+
+        let aggregations_json = r#"{
+            "avg_price": { "avg": { "field": "price" } }
+        }"#;
+        let ttv_aggregations: Aggregations = serde_json::from_str(aggregations_json).unwrap();
+        let qw_aggregations = QuickwitAggregations::TantivyAggregations(ttv_aggregations);
+        let serialized =
+            merge_intermediate_aggregation_result(&Some(qw_aggregations), std::iter::empty())
+                .unwrap()
+                .unwrap();
+        let _merged: IntermediateAggregationResults = postcard::from_bytes(&serialized).unwrap();
+        // Hopefully `_merged` is empty but the API does not allow us to assert that.
+    }
 }