Judgment of Aroma Types of Middle and Upper Flue-cured Tobacco Leaves Based on Stepwise Discriminant Analysis

[Objective] The aim of this study was to establish mathematical models for judging the aroma types of middle and upper flue-cured tobacco leaves according to the contents and proportions of aroma compositions. [Method] The aroma types of tobacco leaves were judged based on stepwise discriminant analysis, using 63 C3F and 65 B2F tobacco leaf samples from 13 tobacco producing regions in 11 provinces of China （Huili in Sichuan, Baokang in Hubei, Wulong in Chongqing, Lu- oyang in Henan, Zhucheng in Shandong, Wuyi Mountain in Fujian, Malong in Yun- nan, Chuxiong in Yunnan, Bijie in Guizhou, Liuyang in Hunan, Suiyang in Guizhou, Kaiyuan in Liaoning, Nanxiong in Guangdong） as calibration samples, and 67 aroma components as indices. And the Fisher discriminant functions were verified using 21 C3F and 19 B2F tobacco leaf samples. [Result] Variation coefficients of the propor- tions were lower than that of contents of most aroma components in middle and upper leaves of the samples, indicating that the proportions were more stable than contents of aroma components. The proportions of benzyl alcohol, solanone, β-dam- ascone, neophytadiene, farnesylacetone A, palmitic acid, thunbergol, methyl linole- nate and cembratriene-diol were all over 1% in both middle and upper leaves, al- though the dominant aroma components of the same aroma type varied between middle and upper leaves. Moreover, 11, 18, 7 and 11 aroma components were re- spectively introduced into the Fisher discriminant functions established based on the contents and proportions of middle and upper flue-cured tobacco leaves, which ex- hibited accuracy rates of 91.7%, 100%, 91.7% and 91.7% in the judgments of other tobacco leaf samples. The results revealed that the components those determined aroma types in middle leaves were obviously more than in upper leaves. In middle leaves, the accuracy rates of aroma type judgment could be improved by using the proportions rather than the contents of aroma components as indices. However, the functions based on the proportions and the contents of aroma components in upper leaves gave close accuracy rates. [Conclusion] The results of the study will provide references for identifying aroma types of flue-cured tobacco leaves in future work.

Judgment of Aroma Types of Middle and Upper Flue-cured Tobacco Leaves Based on Proportions of Aroma Components

[Objective] This study aimed to establish mathematical models for judging the aroma types of flue-cured tobacco leaves from the upper and middle parts of plants. [Method] A total of 128 samples （63 C3F and 65 B2F） from 11 main tobac- co production provinces of China were selected as materials. Stepwise discriminant analysis was applied to samples with different aroma types and discriminant function was expressed with the proportions of 67 aroma components in total aroma con- stituents as the index. [Result] The ratio of most aroma components in clear and full aroma tobacco leaves was higher than that in middle aroma leaves. The ratios of 51, 43 and 40 aroma components of clear, middle and full aroma tobaccos were higher in upper leaves than that in middle leaves. Aroma components dominated certain aroma types differed between middle and upper leaves. The proportions of 18 and 11 aroma components in upper and middle leaves were led in the stepwise discriminant function respectively. Self-validation and cross-validation methods were applied to evaluate the original samples, and the accuracy rates reached 100% and 98.6% on middle leaves, 96.37% and 94.4% on upper leaves. The accuracy rates on some other samples reached 100% on middle leaves and 91.7% on upper leaves predicted with the model. [Conclusion] The ratio of aroma components as discriminant index could improve discriminant accuracy significantly in the middle and upper leaves. It could be used to analyze aroma types objectively, accurately and quickly.