Relationship Between Carotenoid Content and Aromatic Quality and Quantity of Flue-cured Tobacco

Abstract

The carotenoid contents in C3F samples collected from 63 counties of 13 main tobacco growing areas produced in 2007 were determined by HPLC,and their smoking quality was evaluated.The results showed that: 1) the carotenoid content in flue-cured tobacco leaves of the same cultivar grown in different eco-environment was obviously different.The carotenoid content in tobacco leaves from southwest areas,such as Yunnan,Guizhou and Sichuan was significantly higher than that from Henan,Hunan and Liaoning.Nationally,tobacco grown in the areas of higher latitude contained less carotenoid;2) the results of cluster analysis and variance analysis indicated that the score of aromatic quality raised with the increase of carotenoid content,and the aromatic quality score of leaves with the highest carotenoid content differed significantly from that with the lowest carotenoid content;while the score of aromatic quantity of leaves with moderate carotenoid content was the highest.