Discrimination among ginsengs of different growing years based on electronic nose

Abstract

<abstract> <bold>Abstract.</bold> In medical herbs market, adulteration of different growing years is commonly seen, which harms interests of consumers. The changes in aroma odor of ginsengs of different growing years were investigated by electronic nose (E-nose) with 18 metal oxide sensors and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). Electronic nose data was analyzed by using principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant function analysis (DFA). Significant difference (PCA: 94.06%; DFA: 96.5%) was obtained among groups. To validate and explore the essential mechanism of E-nose response, compounds of volatile oil were investigated with GC-MS, and 47 varieties common compounds were calculated and analyzed. Relationship among the E-nose and GC-MS detection as well as yield rate of volatile oil was researched, and strong correlation was available. It indicates that the accuracy and practicality of electronic nose was demonstrated by GC-MS with physicochemical indexes and E-nose could be promising for herbs discrimination.